Recently overheard were a group of university students debating whether the workplace email belongs to the employee or to the employer. They were arguing about the email being monitored by the employer.

Their main concern was about the employees' privacy. What were their rights when using the office e-mail system for personal, non-work related issue? What were the employers' rights with regard to preventing abuses of their equipment and time?

In 2008, there was a big debate about the Regulation of Interception of Communica-tions Bill. This was intended to allow lawkeepers to lawfully intercept and monitor messages they thought needed watching.

Its main aim was to lawfully facilitate the fight against terrorism. In the context of e-mail, the important business reasons justifying routine monitoring by the employer include preventing online sex, harassment, loss of trade secrets, copyright infringement, to investigate employees suspected of wrongdoing, to deter personal use of company property and to avoid legal liability.

Technology now makes it possible for employers to keep track of virtually all workplace communications by any employee. And many employers take advantage of these tracking devices to read employee email. It takes one piece of software to work behind the scenes on your PC or company network.

It could take screen snapshots, capturing personal passwords, storing sent and received emails, and blocking banned websites. This software can be installed and run without your knowledge. Unfortunately, however, the law has not kept pace with this technology.

Furthermore, if the e-mail was sent through a commercial service or the Internet, it may have passed through several computers. Each computer between the sender and the recipient may have retained a copy. Unlike postal mail, most e-mail is not secure and can be accessed or viewed on intermediate computers between the sender and recipient (unless the message is encrypted).

Specific Electronic Communi-cations Privacy law is non-existent in many developing countries. Where laws regulate interception of e-mail and other forms of surveillance, it may provide broader protection of employee privacy. Common law rights of privacy may also be relied upon by employees in challenging employer action.

These days, many companies reinforce these rights by adopting email policies telling employees that their email is not private, and that the company is monitoring email messages. Some companies also require employees to sign a form acknowledging that their email is not private. For example, it may be expressly stated that "it is company policy that employees and contractors restrict their use of company-owned computer hardware and software to company business." Even where there is no email policy, the employer may have a legal right to read employee email messages sent using its equipment and network. It has generally been held that the employer's business interest in preventing inappropriate communications over its e-mail system outweighed any privacy interest by those employees who transmitted such communications.

The Writer is a Specialist in e-Commerce, Security, e-Governance and Research