Is There Privacy on the Computer?

Many people believe that they have a given right to privacy. That there is a barrier between their personal life and business life in which, the two can’t be connected together. What happens outside of their business life shouldn’t reflect their job. However, there is no one rule or law that gives the right to privacy for employees. However, employers should also have to the right to monitor what is happening on their systems. Employers can’t be spending millions of dollars on technology and labor if employees waste time and aren’t productive especially in this economy.   Businesses have to protect themselves by monitoring employees by all means with crossing the line.
In the past ten years technological advances have increased employers monitoring significantly. According to the 2005 Electronic Monitoring and Surveillance Survey, which was released in May 2005, 76 percent of employers monitor workers' Web connections, while 50 percent store and monitor employees' computer files. Other types of monitoring include keyboard keystroke monitoring, reviewing and storing employee e-mails and instant messages, monitoring time spent on the phone, numbers called, actual taping of conversations, video surveillance, drug testing and satellite technology to monitor use of company cars, cell phones and pagers. (Crane) However, technology is not the only reason companies have increased monitoring this economy raises concern as well. The results of an August 2007 Gallup poll suggest that employers have reasons for being concerned about lost productivity. The poll which canvassed more than 1,000 full time and part time employees found that respondents wasted an average of one hour per day at work. According to various studies, all those wasted hours add up to billions of dollars in losses for U.S. companies every year. For example, 55% of major U.S. companies reported that they stored and reviewed employees' e-mail communications in 2005, up from 27% in 1999. (Issues &...