Earlier this month insurance firm Royal and Sun Alliance in Liverpool sacked 10 members of staff and suspended 77 over the distribution of offensive e-mails, including a doctored picture of cartoon character Bart Simpson in a sexual clinch. Last year mobile phone giant Orange sacked up to 40 workers after an internal investigation revealed they were downloading internet porn. The most controversial case involved a lawyer who recently forwarded a private e-mail from his girlfriend about a sex act. In that instance, the five employees involved were disciplined but kept their jobs. New government guidelines unveiled in October, under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, gave companies the right to monitor their employees' e-mail.
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