U.S. Report Finds All Major Companies Monitor Employee Online Activity

The U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) has recently released a report on the monitoring of employee computer use by employers in the U.S. The findings in the report were based on interviews by the GAO of fourteen Fortune 1,000 companies. The GAO found that all of the companies interviewed stored their employees' electronic transactions, including copies of email messages, web sites visited, and computer file activity. Six of the companies reported that they routinely reviewed the stored records of employee electronic transactions, looking for violations of company computer-use polices. The report also considers the current electronic privacy laws in the U.S., and explains how the laws afford little protection to users of the Internet at work. The GAO claims this report indicates a growing trend of employers monitoring employee email. For a copy of the report, visit: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d02717.pdf For more information on the U.S. General Accounting Office, visit: http://www.gao.gov For a copy of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, visit: http://www.usiia.org/legis/ecpa.html For a copy of the U.S.A. Patriot Act, visit: http://makeashorterlink.com/?J19022C7