“Monitoring employees’ Internet and telephone use at work may contravene human rights laws, after a landmark case in the European Court of Human Rights last week,”ZDNet.com.au reports.”The case involved a public-sector employee, who won ‚Ǩ3,000 Euros in damages and ‚Ǩ6,000 Euros in court costs and expenses,after her communications were intercepted by her employer,Carmarthenshire College,based in South Wales.Lynette Copland successfully took the UK government to court after her personal Internet usage and telephone calls were monitored by one of her bosses in 1999.The ruling means that the private use of company telecoms equipment and Internet access may be protected under European human rights legislation,if the company has an acceptable personal-use policy and fails to inform the employee that their communications may be monitored.Employee communications are also covered by human rights legislation if the organisation has no explicit acceptable use policy and fails to inform the employee of the monitoring of personal e-mail”

E-mail monitoring may contravene European laws