Employers can read workers' private messages sent via chat software and webmail accounts during working hours, judges have ruled.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) said a firm that read a worker's Yahoo Messenger chats sent while he was at work was within its rights.
Judges said he had breached the company's rules and that his employer had a right to check on his activities.
Such policies must also protect workers against unfettered snooping, they said...
See Private messages at work can be read by European employers (Kevin Rawlinson, BBC News) for more details.