Privacy in the Workplace Essay - 1624 Words

Privacy in the Workplace In recent times our right to privacy has been under fire, particularly in the workplace. With the fear of terrorists in todays world, we have been willing to sacrifice some of our individual rights for the rights of a society as a whole. A majority of these changes have taken place since September 11, 2001, in an attempt to prevent future terrorist attacks. New legislation, such as the USA Patriot Act, which decreases the limitations on the federal governments ability to monitor people, has been created for this reason. Although new legislation may be instrumental in the defense of our national security, we must take a strong look at their effect and the effect of decreased privacy in the workplace.†¦show more content†¦Currently, employees have few privacy rights, especially while utilizing their employers communication systems. The corporations monitoring and recording practices in this area are protected by an exemption in the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 19 86. Any telephone or telegraph instrument, equipment or facility, or any component thereof, (i) furnished to the subscriber or user by a provider or wire or electronic communications service in the ordinary course of its business and being used by the subscriber or user in the ordinary course of its business or furnished by such subscriber or user for connection to the facilities or such service in use in the ordinary course of business Â… (18 U.S. section 2510(5) (a). Employers are taking advantage of this protection offered by our federal government and as more employees are being given the opportunity to utilize their employers communications system, less areas of privacy are being afforded. As stated above, a more recent legislation affecting employees at work is the USA Patriot Act. This Act actually broadens the federal governments ability to monitor citizens at work and at home based on the premise of seeking out terrorists. It grants the federal government the ability to access library, financial, and employer related records of persons living and working in the United States.Show MoreRelatedPrivacy in the Workplace1140 Words   |  5 PagesExplain where an employee can reasonably expect to have privacy in the workplace. Privacy in the workplace is very hard to get. Advancements in technology have been made that allow companies to monitor every aspect of an employee use of their systems. This is very evident if you have a job that involves you to be on the telephones. Companies are able to listen to each phone that is made, see every website that you have visited and read any email you have received. 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