blocking out-of-office

[Koopmann, Jan-Peter]

On Thursday, August 03, 2006 10:17 PM Rick Chadderdon wrote: 

> You think so?  I strongly disagree.  

Fine. German Law does not care about you disagreeing. If you do not
explicitly forbid private use of your e-mail system (and the employee
has to sign the agreement) you basically have no administrative access
to the users mailbox. 

Moreover you as a company can choose to allow private use. Several
studies confirm that allowing the private use of mail and internet are
good for the company. People tend to stay longer at work since they are
not forced to leave "early" or on time to finish their ebay auction etc.


> If someone abuses a system (and
> knowingly using it outside of the standards established *is* abuse)
> then their conduct in no way deserves respect.  

If you forbid private use and make sure this is done in a lawful way: I
agree. 

Regards,
  JP