When last did you send a private eMail from the office while at the same time
worrying that someone came across it? Perhaps you were telling a colleague how
hopeless your boss is, or arranging a secret date with a co-worker. Possibly
even something harmless like chatting with a friend on the other side of the
world. It seems you have every reason to worry. There is absolutely nothing
private about your company eMail.
Michael Smyth, a regional manager at an American company (Pillsbury) found
this out the hard way. A recent Fortune magazine reported that he sent an
eMail to his supervisor "blasting company managers and threatening to kill the
backstabbing bastards". He did not intend anyone to take his figure of speech
seriously, but the company did. Although Pillsbury had previously assured
employees that eMail messages sent from work were private, they intercepted
this particular message and fired Smyth. He took them to court claiming
wrongful discharge but the court threw out the case.
eMail is deceptive. There is nothing that feels quite as personal as
exchanging notes with a friend or confidant. Far more private than a
conversation at the coffee machine? Well, not quite. You see the "discussions"
you have on eMail are recorded and transferred from your computer to your
colleagues using software owned and controlled by your company. While your
messages may seem private, it is very easy for the administrators of the eMail
system to intercept each and every message.
eMail administration software allows management to select what they want to
read. It is possible to tell the system to send a copy of all or any messages
sent to or from a particular user. While you’re reading this, someone in your
company could be reading your eMail message destined for Aunt Agatha.
The legalities of this snooping are quite clear. The eMail system belongs to
the company and management therefore has the right to look at anything sent or
received using it. A leading South African labour law attorney says that your
eMail inbox can be seen in the same light as your desk drawer. The owners or
management of your company own it and have the right to inspect the contents
at any time. A cursory examination of other countries indicates that this is
the same in many parts of the world including the United States.
What are your options to prevent your private notes from becoming company
property? Quite simply - don’t send private eMail at the office. Pay the
monthly fee and setup a private eMail account with an internet service
provider (ISP). There are many ISP’s these days that will offer a free or
reduced rate eMail only account. It is possible to encrypt your message but is
complicated unless you are a real techie. On top of that, the person receiving
the message needs to have the same encryption capabilities as yourself
(unlikely).
POSTSCRIPT "Well at least they can’t see what I’ve been looking at on the
web," you may be saying. Don’t be so sure. At a recent "big m" seminar where
they were (steam)rolling out their new products for the next couple of months
- they announced a product that would allow corporate "administrators" to
monitor who was visiting which websites and control access to certain sites
based on user profiles.