This little piece of news appearing in late 2006 may have escaped your attention but I thought it was worth bringing it up.

A survey conducted by Fortiva based on 100 North American organizations that monitor and review the messages of their employees found that:

* Of the 93 percent of companies that have formal electronic communication retention and review policies, 63% companies reported employee e-mail surveillance has improved their ability to see risks to the company.
* 12 percent of the companies uncovered customer complaints that were not previously escalated or disclosed.
* 14 percent also said copies of employee correspondence were forwarded to a regulatory body or law enforcement agency.
* The increase in visibility has resulted in 26 percent of organizations terminating an employee as a result of information yielded through email surveillance.

www.fortiva.com/news/pr_email_surviellance.html

Now, it’s hard to argue with the fact that a company reviewing its employees’ e-mail may indeed be getting some valuable information. And its important to note that this particular research surveyed North American securities industry companies, which are under some stringent rules when it comes to monitoring information.

But what about the rest of the business world? Just where does this type of surveillance fall when we consider the ethical implications? What are your thoughts on this?

Natasha