Yes, the boss is reading your e-mails

Pssst....you may want to tone down your boss-bashing e-mails. According to a new report by messaging security specialists Proofpoint, 38 per cent of large UK companies have hired staff to read or analyse outgoing employee e-mails. What are these company snoops finding that's so alarming? Breaches of confidential information and legally sensitive content, which can be enough to sack the offending e-mailer.

Indeed, 34 per cent of the companies surveyed have terminated an employee in the past 12 months for violating company e-mail policy. And, more than 70 per cent have disciplined employees for breaching the company e-mail code. According to the employers surveyed, their snooping actions are justified: nearly one in five outgoing messages contains content that poses a financial, regulatory or legal risk. And, more than one third of respondents said that their company was affected by the exposure of an embarrassing or sensitive outgoing e-mail in the past year. Others reported that outgoing e-mails carried unauthorised details about customers or trade secrets about intellectual property.

According to the law firm Pinsent Masons, UK firms are permitted to monitor outgoing e-mail, but they must follow closely a host of legislation including the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, the Lawful Business Practice Regulations, the Data Protection Act and the Human Rights Act. Louise Townsend, a data protection specialist at Pinsent Masons, says: "While it is encouraging that so many companies have policies in place, what is more important is that these policies comply with the law, are put into practice consistently and are enforced... Reading the personal e-mails of staff without lawful justification could land employers in trouble."

The survey, conducted by Proofpoint and Forrester Consulting, occurred last month, comprising 112 large UK companies and 294 large US companies.