September 02, 2003
Is someone else reading your e-mail?
Recently reported on CNN Technology, a recent survey of 18,000 adults who use email at work, Yahoo! Mail found that 61 percent think that the IT department reads their personal email in secret. With the increased pressure to block viruses and spam, businesses and academic institutions have begun upgrading to very sophisticated software. Some of the new anti-virus software easily enables companies to read e-mails, track Web surfing, and monitor content moving in and out of corporations.
It may not be that e-mail managers want to necessarily read your email but the new software not only serves an anti-spamming/anti-virus function but it also does 'content filtering.' This means that certain subject lines can be automatically deleted, such as "Hi" or "read this." Also certain phrases within the email may set off alarms that prompt the managers to review an e-mail. Attachments also either set off alarms or may be automatically deleted, such as those ending in 'exe'
Although it has never been easier for employers to monitor the e-mails and Internet activity of their staff, there are precautions that you can take. An article on corporate spying describes some of the reasons for spying and steps that you can take to prevent it. There is also software that you can install that will block others from reading your email.
Or, you can just not worry about it!