Provide your thoughts and opinions to the following issues? Remember that we are not talking about legal questions here. A company may very well have the legal right to monitor everything an employee does with its computer equipment. We are talking about the ethical aspects of having the ability to do so. Provide written responses to each of these questions/issues:

• Should you read the private e-mail of your network users just "because you can?" Is it okay to read employees' e-mail as a security measure, to ensure that sensitive company information is not being disclosed? Is it okay to read employees' e-mail to ensure that company rules (for instance, against personal use of the e-mail system) are not being violated? If you do read employees' e-mail, should you disclose that policy to them? Before or after the fact?
• Is it okay to monitor the Web sites visited by your network users? Should you routinely keep logs of visited sites? Is it negligent to not monitor such Internet usage, to prevent the possibility of pornography in the workplace that could create a hostile work environment?
• Is it okay to place key loggers on machines on the network to capture everything the user types? Screen capture programs so you can see everything that is displayed? Should users be informed that they are being watched in this way?
• Is it okay to read the documents and look at the graphics files that are stored on users' computers or in their directories on the file server?
• What if your perusal of random documents reveals company trade secrets? What if you later leave the company and go to work for a competitor? Is it wrong to use that knowledge in your new job? Would it be "more wrong" if you printed out those documents and took them with you, than if you just relied on your memory?
• What if the documents you read showed that the company was violating government regulations or laws? Do you have a moral obligation to turn them in, or are you ethically bound to respect your employer's privacy? Would it make a difference if you signed a non-disclosure agreement when you accepted the job?
• IT and security consultants who do work for multiple companies have even more ethical issues to deal with. If you learn things about one of your clients that might affect your other client(s), where does your loyalty lie?