Is Your Boss Reading Your Email? (A guest post on AOL Jobs)

(I posted this earlier in the week but Blogger lost it when the site went down, so I'm re-posting)

I did another guest post on AOL Jobs. This is what it was about:

Most people assume their emails at work are private. Those people are wrong. There are very few laws that protect you from email snooping at work, and most are pretty worthless and weak. That means you should assume your employer is monitoring your email and act accordingly.

If you get funny emails that are in bad taste, don't forward them. You might be accused of sexual (or racial) harassment. Don't write your lawyer on your work email. And for heaven's sake, don't send love notes to co-workers.

My rule of thumb is this: If you don't want it on the front page of the company newsletter, don't email it at work.

There Ought to Be a Law

Yep, there ought to be. And there is, sort of. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 specifically says your company can't intercept your emails. The problem is,

Read the rest on AOL Jobs.

Thanks again to Gina Misiroglu of Red Room for putting me in touch with the AOL people!