Our company is in the process of drafting a new appropriate use policy and I have a question regarding privacy.
The following is an excerpt from the draft policy, “The company reserves the right to monitor phone messages, facsimile, pager, e-mail messages and Internet activities that occur on company equipment, including those which may be of a ?personal? nature. Employees should not expect that messages (sent or received) or Internet use on company equipment or resources will remain private.”
An attorney a few years back made a statement at a workshop on email privacy and I am wondering if it is still valid. He said that although a company has the right to view or listen to any type of electronic messages that you may send out from company equipment that the company does not have the right to intercept electronic or other messages coming into the company by outside sources especially if they are of a personal nature.
Has anyone dealt with this before or has a legal opinion regarding this?
