User Perceptions Email users , expect - ing privacy , risk embarassment , law - suits , and worse . of Email Privacy Managing

Why do email users perceive their communications to be private when email provides virtually no safeguards against privacy violations? The ethical and legal controversies regarding email are increasingly debated by computer professionals, philosophers, politicians, journalists, and legal experts. Much of the debate focuses on employee expectations of privacy in their communications and their employers’ need to control and monitor the flow of information in the workplace. In most organizations, employees reasonably expect their communications to be private. They expect that a conversation in an office with the door closed is private; they expect that a letter in a sealed envelope will not be opened by those not authorized to do so. Telephone conversations are also typically perceived as private—unless callers are told the phone is being monitored. But email messages are not private. Managers can legally intercept, monitor, and read employees’ email [19, 23]. So why the perception of privacy? Is it because users view email in the same way they view a sealed letter? Or are they naive about computer technology? Have managers adopted explicit email policies informing employees their email can be monitored User Perceptions