Introduction

The laws relating to employers' rights to monitor the use of the internet and email, monitor and record telephone calls, secretly record their movements whether at work or out of work and discipline them for breach of the rules, are complex and wide-ranging. Data Protection Act 1998 and Codes of practice provide the framework for employees' rights not to have personal data about them misused or disclosed by their employer to unauthorised sources. Some employers are even using electronic tagging to monitor the whereabouts and the work output of their staff. This electronic tagging is supposed to reduce costs and increase efficiency. It works by way of a satellite which beams the radio waves to a central station where the employee can be monitored. The Security Service in the UK has had a long and colourful history operating since the beginning of the twentieth century monitoring and vetting devices in order to safeguard national security.