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employees use the e-mail facility of a company? Do the employees not understand
that e-mails are not secure and network servers keep track of every bit of mail that
employees send out or every Web page they view? There are two possible answers
to these questions: one is that employees know these facts but still feel that
employers may not take it seriously, and second is that the employee believes if they
have passwords, it is secure. Whereas, the fact is that it is not only employers who
can access this mail, but this mail is vulnerable to abuse by eavesdroppers because
e-mail messages travel from the originating host computer to the destination and
often pass through several relaying hosts. Administrators of any of these hosts can
easily eavesdrop on the mail traffic.
How to protect e-mail invasion of privacy?
There are preventive measures which could be applied to avoid embarrassment
or possibly even being fired for e-mail abuse:
1.
It is better to have a personal account at home with an Internet service provider
and direct all confidential messages to be sent to the home computer Internet
account and not to the by workplace account.
2.
E-mail should be selective and purposeful. It is not recommended to send any
confidential or personal information.
3.
E-mail accounts require proper management such as deleting old mail and
sensitive mail, etc. One can also employ encryption technologies offered by
e-mail service providers to avoid eavesdropping.
4.
It is desirable that employees check the company e-mail policy before they
start using e-mail.
Collection of Information Through Cookies
Many advertising and market research companies collect information from
consumers through their online interactions. The companies can then create a
database of preferences, habits and choices of consumers to be used to market their
products and services. This is not a new phenomenon, but due to the breadth and
speed of the Internet, it creates concerns for consumers.
How do these companies collect information?
As discussed earlier, companies often ask consumers to provide their personal
details through online interaction. The more dominant method used by companies