Electronic Communications Privacy Act - Advantages from an Employer Research Paper

Electronic Communications Privacy Act - Advantages from an Employer and Employee Perspective - Research Paper Example Therefore, in the below sections, the various aspects of the act responsible for the present situation, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) of 1986 and its benefits on both the employee and the employer are discussed. Background The ECPA is an up gradation of a previous act to control crime through monitoring activities. It is an evolution of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968. The quick growth of the electronics industry meant that there was also a rapid increase in the modes of communication. While the earlier Act of 1968 catered to telephone and other modes of traditional communication, the newer channels of communication were not covered. Moreover, despite the intense debate surrounding the ECPA act on privacy, one of the main clauses of the act has to do with restricting third parties from intercepting communication. However, the act provides exceptions to employers under two conditions, namely, during the ordinary course of business and through the employee's consent. Despite the broad nature of the Act, it has special implications for the business sector since it affects factors such as IP (Intellectual Property), productivity, employee morale, etc. The Act of 1986 legitimized control by employers over the methods that they were already using since businesses came to depend on computers. For example, during the Regan era, the accepted view was that business must be allowed to choose its own course with respect to employee monitoring (Sipior & Ward, 1995, 50). Current Technology As mentioned in the earlier section, the ECPA act is an evolution of the Omnibus Act of 1968. Although businesses still have a great degree of control over rights to monitor employee activity, the ECPA act has resulted in a number of issues that need to be resolved such as deciding on the optimal degree of control, establishing control structures based on the work cultures of various countries, etc. Firstly, the ECPA was upgraded mainly due to the increase in the modes of electronic communication, especially information transfer through email and more recently social networking sites such as Facebook, etc. The invention of the transistor in the 1950s led to rapid development of computer hardware eventually resulting in a system that resembles the one we use today, that is, the desktop computer. However, the corresponding software namely the operating systems required for the advanced hardware was developed only a few decades later which made widespread use of the personal computer possible. However, the ease with which communication was now possible meant that employees had a greater amount of responsibility in using company infrastructure. Employers resorted to the same degree of control that they had used in the past with respect to voice calls and oral communication. However, the nature of the new technology meant that a great deal of an employee's job was based on using the computer and the internet. Monitoring all comput er and email activity has meant that employers were virtually tracking every minute spent by the employee within the office premises. In addition, the adoption of new technology has also made the task of monitoring much easier than before through the use of automated tracking systems, etc. New systems such as CCTVs have also helped companies monitor employee behavior. This has naturally resulted in a greater degree of