On Tue, 2004-03-30 at 16:38, Howard Lowndes wrote: > <hfl> > I guess there are a few of out there that will be needing some legal > opinions on this one and some re-defined acceptable practice > conditions. It looks like a minefield. > </hfl> > > http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1077250.htm > > The New South Wales Government is moving to outlaw bosses spying on > workers' emails, unless they have a court order to do so.
My first thought is "so what? get back to work". It's the company's time and money, etc. But then in light of the Wesco stupidity comes the thought of a person stalking another using their position in the company... It might be a manager that's wasting/misusing the company's time and money, etc. So maybe this is something that does need some consideration. > > The step is said to be an Australian first. > > New South Wales Attorney-General Bob Debus says the union movement has > been justifiably lobbying for laws to stop employers from spying on > workers' emails. > > "The Government proposes to tackle this problem and in this respect we > will be the first Australian state to do so," Mr Debus said. > > "Under the template proposed by the Government, a balance will be struck > between the employee's right to privacy and the legitimate needs of > employers to protect their intellectual and commercial properties," he > said. > > He says the laws being drafted will not place a blanket ban on email > surveillance but will make sure it is done ethically. > > Mr Debus says the new laws will make it a criminal offence to undertake > any form of covert surveillance unless an employer can show a reasonable > suspicion of wrong-doing by an employee. > > "Unless employers have a court order, they will need to give employees > notice that surveillance will be conducted," he said. > > That could mean a warning box pops up when the computer is turned on. > > -- > Howard. > LANNet Computing Associates - Your Linux people <http://www.lannetlinux.com> > ------------------------------------------ > Flatter government, not fatter government - Get rid of the Australian states. > ------------------------------------------ > To mess up a Linux box, you need to work at it; > to mess up your Windows box, you just need to work on it. > - Scott Granneman, SecurityFocus -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
