Is your boss reading your email?

If you're working for a US company, there's a good chance you're being watched - and you may get fired for how you use your computer or office phone, according to a study.

The study on electronic monitoring and surveillance, undertaken by the American Management Association and the ePolicy Institute, was released yesterday.

The report found companies are increasingly "putting teeth in technology policies". About a quarter of employers have fired workers for misusing the internet; another 25 per cent have terminated employees for email misuse; and six per cent have fired employees for misusing office telephones, according to the report.

Nancy Flynn, executive director of the ePolicy Institute, said in a statement: "Concern over litigation and the role electronic evidence plays in lawsuits and regulatory investigations has spurred more employers to implement electronic technology policies."

Although liability and regulatory issues may be convincing companies to peek in on their employees, such surveillance raises privacy concerns. Employers can monitor workers to a greater degree these days, thanks to newer technologies such as keystroke-logging software and satellite global positioning systems that can track a mobile phone user's whereabouts.

The survey, which involved 526 US companies, found that five per cent use GPS technology to monitor mobile phones and eight per cent use GPS to track company vehicles. About 75 per cent of companies monitor workers' website connections, and 65 per cent use software to block connections to inappropriate websites.

Computer monitoring takes various forms, according to the study, with 36 per cent of employers tracking "content, keystrokes and time spent at the keyboard". Another 50 per cent of companies store and review employees' computer files, according to the report. "Companies also keep an eye on email, with 55 per cent retaining and reviewing messages," the report said.

The number of employers who monitor the amount of time workers spend on the phone and track telephone numbers called has jumped to 51 per cent, up from nine percent in 2001, the report said.

Fifty-one per cent of the companies surveyed use video monitoring to counter theft, violence and sabotage, up from 33 per cent in 2001. "The number of companies that use video surveillance to track employees' on-the-job performance has also increased," the report said, "with 10 per cent now videotaping selected job categories and six per cent videotaping all employees."

Of those organisations that engage in monitoring and surveillance activities, 80 per cent inform workers the company is monitoring content, keystrokes and time spent at the keyboard; 82 per cent let employees know the company stores and reviews computer files; 86 per cent alert employees to email monitoring; and 89 per cent notify employees their web usage is being tracked, according to the report. Among companies that videotape workers, 85 per cent notify employees of the practice, the report said.

Ed Frauenheim writes for CNET News.com