In the digital era, companies are implementing a computer surveillance and monitoring

technologies for safeguarding the organizational data and to maintain the confidentiality,
integrity and availability of the information. The monitoring technologies are also used to
keep a check on employees productivity and risk associated with the loss of information due
to the internal environment. The Internet has decreased the employees productivity to a
certain extent. According to Internet surveys (as cited in Etsebeth, 2007), a large number of
employees approximately spent 10 minutes to 1 hour every day on surfing sites such
as online newspapers, online shopping, personal surfing on their desk in workplaces that are
not related to their jobs (Etsebeth, 2007).
The monitoring of employees work computer also helps in keeping a check on the
network performance. The downloading of video files from the Internet by the employees
decreases the bandwidth of the companys network. It is justified for the company to spend
money on Internet monitoring tools to keep a check on the bandwidth (Etsebeth, 2007). The
threat from insiders sharing confidential data of the company with outsiders is another
reason for implementing monitoring techniques within the work environment. It is basically
carried out for protecting the trade secrets and confidential data from the employees
(Etsebeth, 2007).
Bourke versus Nissan Motor Corporation case clearly justified the use of monitoring
the employees email as the company could be legally held liable for theonline activities
being performed by its employees (Baltzan, 2015). The management discovered that Bourke
and one other employee were exchanging personal information with sexual content that
resulted in their termination from the company (Baltzan, 2015). Dishonest employees could
affect organizations to go through liability and legal problems when the Internet is being
misused (Etsebeth, 2007).
In the present scenario, the U.S. federal law considered the employer to be the
owner and could also keep a check on the electronic communication on-going with the work
computers. The employers are authorized to monitor all the electronic communications,
even if the internet usage policy is not in place within the organization (Etsebeth, 2007).

References
IST 8100 integrating the enterprise, IS function & IS
technologies Wilmington University. United States of America: The McGraw-

Baltzan, P. (2015). Ethics.

Hill Companies, Inc.

Etsebeth, V. (2007). Monitoring and surveillance in the workplace: Lessons learnt?

Investigating the international legal position. Journal of Digital

Forensics, Security and Law, 2(2), 23-37.