Today s workplace is increasingly dependent upon electronic means of communication. The vast majority of these employees believe that their electronic communications and computer files are private and will not be accessed by their employer. The same employees would never conclude that typed memos stored in the metal file cabinet in their office were private. However, the lack of paper stored in a physically accessible place seems to create the opposite assumption. This presumption of privacy is often reinforced by the trappings of the technology itself.
Many employers require employees to use passwords to access their voice and e-mail.
They create elaborate systems with special access codes to secure documents in word processing and database files. These passwords seem to suggest that the information is truly private. Most employers hold assumptions directly contrary to those of their employees and believe that anything created by an employee while at work is subject to review. Employers have the right to monitor the physical comings and goings of employees and their tangible work product. Employers therefore reason that they also have the right to monitor an employee s travel through cyberspace.