I spy with my little eye..Not on your staff anymore you don't!

European Court rules against spying on staff

4 April 2007

On 3 March a college secretary from Wales, represented by human rights group Liberty, won a legal challenge against her employers and the UK Government after a senior member of staff at the college secretly monitored her personal communications for up to 18 months without her consent.

Liberty’s Legal Director James Welch said: “Employees don't leave their personal privacy at the front door when they come to work each day. This judgment makes perfectly clear that employers who spy on their staff are infringing their privacy.”

The European Court of Human Rights found (Copland v UK C-62617/00) that her employers violated her right to privacy when they logged details of her personal phone calls, analysed websites she visited and tracked her email correspondence.

Ms Copland’s personal communications were monitored by her employer between 1998 and 1999 at which time there was no general right to privacy in English law. The implementation of the Human Rights Act 1998 in 2000 and the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 legally protect privacy rights in domestic law. Following the European Court's decision, employers must now ensure that employees are aware that their communications could be monitored and, where they are, there is a good reason for doing so.

Hat-Tip to the Barrister Blog for pointing me in the right direction.