A new study by the American Management Association (AMA) reveals that workplace surveillance continues to rise. The American Management Association's 2001 Annual Survey on Workplace Monitoring and Surveillance, released on April 18, finds that nearly eighty percent of all major U.S. companies carry out some form of employee monitoring, a dramatic increase from thirty-five percent in 1997. Approximately sixty-three percent of companies review employees' Internet use and forty-seven percent monitor email communications. Furthermore, twenty-five percent of companies say they have fired employees, and sixty-five percent have disciplined, for misuse of these services. Other common forms of surveillance include telephone monitoring and video surveillance. According to the survey, most employers cite legal compliance, legal liability, performance review, productivity measures and security concerns as their top reasons for snooping on their employees.
Last year, a bill requiring employers to notify workers of such surveillance was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. In a Congressional hearing on the bill, EPIC stated that any workplace surveillance legislation should include strong privacy protection principles in keeping with Fair Information Practices and the International Labour Organization privacy guidelines.
A summary of the American Management Association's 2001 Annual Survey on Workplace Monitoring & Surveillance is available at:
http://www.amanet.org/research/pdfs/ems_short2001.pdf
EPIC's Testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on HR 4908, the Notice of Electronic Monitoring Act, is available at:
http://www.epic.org/privacy/wiretap/testimony_0900.html
EPIC News - Volume 8.08 - May 2, 2001
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[posted 5/24/01]
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