Surfing porn sites on company time. Passing corporate secrets to outsiders. Technologies range from automated scanning of emails for key words, to software that counts and records each employee's keystrokes. Your boss could be recording your telephone calls, rummaging through your electronic files, monitoring your voice mails, emails and faxes, and even using special software to capture images from your computer screen as you work, all without your knowledge. According the AMA, surveillance is highest among the financial industries and real estate firms, and is also prevalent among professional services firms, wholesalers and retailers.
Employers have the upper hand.
Employers argue that such surveillance is necessary to ensure workers are being productive, are not stealing from the company and are not betraying the company to competitors. After all, they are paying for the computer, software and Internet connection, not to mention your time. When employees know they are being watched, goof-off time decreases, as does industrial espionage. And besides, such surveillance is perfectly legal. The 14 th Amendment to the US Constitution does provides some privacy rights to employees, and the Electronic Communications Privacy Act extended the prohibition on wiretapping to the interception of private email.