Legal Implications of Personal Web Use in the Workplace

Abstract

The virtues of the Internet as a business tool have been widely extolled: the Internet instantly makes available information that may be difficult or time consuming to obtain by other means. However, use of the Internet in the workplace is fraught with potential problems. This chapter examines the legal implications of personal Web use in the workplace. Specifically, it focuses on the legal issues which can arise for both employers and employees when an employee uses organizational computing facilities for non-work related activities such as surfing the Internet, sending e-mail, chatting online, or instant messaging.