The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has convened a special one-day conference to discuss the issue of privacy at work, amid mounting confusion over the Code of Practice on data protection.
Employers have grown increasingly angry at the delay in publishing the code, which is supposed to guide them on complying with the Data Protection Act.

Now the ICO has taken the decision to publish the code in instalments, leaving the most contentious issue — that of monitoring employee communications, in particular email and internet use — until yet further consultation has taken place.

Much of the confusion among employers stems from the privacy at work section of the code. This section was intended to provide guidance to employers on complying with what appears to be a wealth of contradictory legislation, including the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) and the Human Rights and Data Protection acts.

The RIP Act extended regulation to new technology and email traffic, prohibiting the interception of communications in the course of transmission.

In practice, the Act gives both the sender and intended recipient of an email intercepted by an employer a right to damages. Exceptions include where the sender and intended recipient have consented.

'Some have seen RIPA as a green light to monitoring but as far as we are concerned if it involves processing personal data then it has to comply with the Data Protection Act,' said Iain Bourne, strategic policy manager at the Information Commission.

The conference on privacy at work will be held in Manchester on 28 June. For more information visit www.dataprotection.gov.uk

Source

The Facilities Business