Analysis of Cyber Law Case about Employee Surveillance Free Essay Example, 2750 words

As employee abuse of e-mail and Internet privileges can have severe consequences - in addition to lost productivity, such abuses also open the employer up to security breaches, viruses, not to mention that employees commit crimes more than the third parties5 - there is a definite need for employers to subject their employees to surveillance. Then there is the issue of cyberslacking, which is just like it sounds employees abusing their privilege and taking away valuable company time with their personal online activities, which leads to loss of productivity and theft of company resources. However, employees have rights as well, and there are a number of different UK cases and statutes that are implicated in employee surveillance. One such is the Human Rights Act 1998, which states in Article 8 that everyone has a right to respect for his private correspondence. 7 Courts have interpreted this particular Act in a variety of ways that would be pertinent to the question of employee surveillance. For instance, the court in Halford v. UK [1997] I. This court found that intercepting phone calls made from an employee on business premises was a breach of the employee s privacy. 8 This decision was upheld in 4839 and Douglas v. We will write a custom essay sample on Analysis of Cyber Law Case about Employee Surveillance or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/page For instance, in MS v. Sweden(1999) 28 E. 313 ECHR, an employee complained that the release of her medical data was provided to her employer, which led to her dismissal. However, the court ruled that that disclosure was legitimate and necessary to a democratic society.