The issue has been addressed by the supreme court, leaving employers with some guidelines. The employer can define what is private and what is public leaving most monitoring to be legal. Some Privacy, Please, For E-mail. Chicago Daily Law Bulletin 24, November 1997, pg. Courts have decided that under the federal and state constitution there is no protection of privacy as far as e-mail is involved.
New software exist that allows employers to survey e-mail without reading it all.
The software looks for specific word or phrases that the company believes are unwanted. Then they are retrieved and read. E-Mail and Privacy Rights Intersect on the Information Superhighway. E-mail is more popular today then in the past. This has lead to may issue surrounding its use and privacy.