Do You Have Internet Privacy at Work?

Protecting Your Internet Privacy at Work

At many places of employment, people use desktop or laptop computers with internet access to get their jobs done. However, this always leaves the opportunity open for employees to access the internet for personal reasons. Which leads to the question: Do you have internet privacy at work?

Privacy, just like any other basic human right, is at the center of controversy when it comes to use of the internet on workplace computers. Typically, since the computer equipment is the property of the company, the internet connectivity is paid for by the company and you are on company time, your employer may feel that whatever you do when you are at work can and should be monitored. While some employers may give you some basic workplace privacy, laws on this vary from state to state, so you can't count on that. That means from the time you clock in for work at the beginning of your shift to the time you leave, everything you do and communicate may be monitored by camera, internet browser tracking and general company management. In most cases, the company you work for looks at this as protecting the confidentiality of any information exchanged by employees and customers. Companies have a legal obligation to monitor any activities that could possibly be illegal or offensive to the outside world. Records of email exchanges can be subpoenaed at any time so the company has to have steps in place to ensure this can be handled. So employees should never assume that it's their right to have internet privacy at work.