Logging of employee internet activity is illegal, says Greek Data Protection Agency

Great Debates
1

http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/neaweb/nta_nea.print_unique?e=A&f=18153&m=N15&aa=1 (The article is in greek, I couldn’t find an english one)

According to this decision it is illegal for the employer to:

  1. view employee e-mails
  2. log the webpages visited by employees
  3. gather and process any data related to employees telephone calls and “electronic communications”

Note that at the time being this is just a law proposal, not an actual law.

Are these measures good for protecting employee privacy, or are they going to be too much of a burden for the employers?

2

As long as employers can be held responsible for harassing e-mails, etc. via sexual harassment lawsuits, I’d have to side with the employers on this one. Plus, one needs to consider that the company e-mail and internet connects are company property. They should have the right to ensure these company assets are used for only authorized activities.

Jammer

3

Is the ban proposed by the Data protection Agency absolute, or subject to qualifications?

What I’d consider fair would be:

  • employer to announce the monitoring in advance
  • employer not to monitor private internet usage if private usage has been allowed at all.
4

In a related area, does anyone know if employers are allowed to monitor and/or restrict telephone calls made by employees? Seems like some of the same issues can be applied there.