Snooping law

[ATOB2]

In the wake of the new e-snooping law, is my employer allowed to read my emails before I do?

[kelsherr]

Unfortunately, yes. The new laws will give employers full rights to access all company emails, regardless of whether the addressee has read it or not. As long as the message is on the company email system there is nothing you can do to stop your boss reading your emails ' and he doesn't have to inform you of whether or not he has done so. There are good practical reasons for the introduction of this law, for instance if a member of staff is off sick or on holiday, someone has to be able to check their important emails. However, if you don't like the idea of this, there is a way around it, which is to set-up an Internet-based account on one of the many free websites that offer them, e.g. Yahoo.com or Hotmail.com. These accounts are accessible only via the net, and are always password protected, prohibiting anyone else, even your boss, from reading your messages.

[ukultra.net]

As already pointed out, the answer is Yes, and although using mail accounts like hotmail is excellent advise for work based use, it may not protect you from snooping. Programs are available that can take 100's of snap shots of your computer useage every hour. A business owner may use these without your knowledge, this may be against some human rights act, but I doubt that would put many off.