Motion to grant employers right to monitor employees’ e-mail at work nearing completion
A Ministry of Transport and Communications working group would give employers permission to monitor the identifier information of employees’ e-mail communication at work. In special circumstances the employer would be allowed to access information concerning the recipients and senders of an employee’s e-mail traffic.
The possibility to access the identifier information would only be granted to internationally important companies. The companies would also be required to inform the authorities in advance of any such monitoring activities.
The preparation of the amendment has been accompanied by intense public debate. Last autumn, the proposed amendment to the Act on the Protection of Privacy in Electronic Communications received strong criticism from the Chancellor of Justice Paavo Nikula.
On Wednesday the chairperson of the ministerial working group, Liisa Ero, Director General of the Department of Communications at the Ministry of Transport and Communications, declined to comment on the content of the defined version of the amendment, referring to the fact that the working group was still working on the proposal.
The working group is set to convene for the final time on Friday.
An amendment to the Act on the Protection of Privacy in Electronic Communications has been called for particularly by companies that feel that more comprehensive measures are needed in order to fight industrial espionage, for instance.