Re: i need some good advice, my boss is reading my emails

From: Gerald Vogt (vogt_at_spamcop.net)
Date: 03/05/05 

Date: Sat, 05 Mar 2005 09:10:14 +0900

M. Trimble wrote:
> No disrespect here, but I believe that even where there is such a right,
> either as defined by courts or by statute/law, there are some limits. As
> for example, the employer has a right to snoop on activities deemed illegal
> or otherwise detrimental to the employer, but snooping in general? I dunno.

Yes, like that. In Germany, as far as I know, (not sure if I am right as
I not a legal but a tech.) basically all e-mail communication basically
belongs to the company if private use of e-mail communication is
explicitly disallowed in your work contract. So if this is the case, the
employer may read, filter, etc. all your e-mails. If it is not excluded,
you must take into account that private e-mail communication is possible
which is protected under German privacy laws. This on the other hand has
interesting side effects because you are not allowed to read the
contents of e-mails at all as it could be private. This means for
example that a spam filter with content checking for keywords or similar
is not allowed unless the employee accepts it. Due to these restrictions
if private communication is allowed, it is generally (I think) excluded
and due to this the privacy laws are not applicable and you can filter
and snoop if you like...

Gerald