COMP 2903 A12 – Privacy Legislation and Surveillance Software Danny Silver JSOCS, Acadia University

Daryl Nord, Tiption McCubbins, and Jeretta Nord Communications of the ACM, August, 2006

Big Brother is Here Workplace Monitoring and Surveillance Survey of 2001 conducted by the AMA 75% of major US employers record and/or review: – – Telephone – Internnet – Computer files Twice the 1997 rate

Privacy What does the term mean? Webster: – A) The quality or state of being apart from company or observation – B) freedom from unauthorized intrusion One has a right to privacy in their home Do they have the same in the work place?

Employer’s Have Real Concerns 2002 stat: 62% of US workers went online at work for personal reasons 78% of employers report blatant abuse of organizational internet policies: – Downloading pirated s/w, pornography – Shopping online – Personal , inappropriate – Surfing the web, watch videos, playing games 10% of US companies have received legal threats because of employee Many companies sued for employee actions

Employer’s Are Taking Action Monitoring employee’s computer and internet use – see table at top of page : – Over 52% of employers monitor – 22% have terminated employees for violations of policy

So what is your right to privacy in the work place? Constitution / Bill of rights ensures this? In US rights to privacy in constitution pertain only to state action – not private company work scenarios Rights to privacy come from Fed legislation and State common law

Electronic Comm. Privacy Act (ECPA) Covers broad interests of privacy, but limits expectations of employees with respect to employers: – Provider exception – company provides, then the information is theirs – Ordinary course of business exception – the employer has the right to monitor quality control and unauthorized use or misuse of equipment Can persona voice and be monitored in the US? – Consent exception – if either party in a conversation consents to use of info – it is OK

State / Provincial Case Law Employees have tried to use invasion of privacy as a protection in the workplace Generally two problems: – Employee must have a reasonable expectation of privacy – McLaren v. Microsoft (see p.55) – Intrusion must be highly offensive to a reasonable person Social Media Policies: Media/social-media-a-facebook-policies.html Media/social-media-a-facebook-policies.html

Monitoring H/W and S/W Employers have an extensive arsenal of technology they can pay to use See last page of article: – Multiple employee machines can be simultaneously monitored ( , chat, forums) – Local files can be copied and changes to them logged – Commands to employee computers can be execute remotely (scary!!)

Org. Electronic Comm. Policy Signed by employees should contain statements that: – Comm. equipment is owned by company – Have the right to monitor – Right to know & keep copies of passwords – Inappropriate comm. are prohibited, including access a website with offensive content – Employees should not voice personal opinions using company comm. technology

Assignment #2 In Nova Scotia, what is a person’s right to privacy in the work place. Please investigate and report major findings. Do you feel that the provisions are adequate so as to protect both the workers and the organizations. Provide all references Keep your response to no more than 1.5 pages PROOF READ BEFOR SUBMITTING