Abstract
Employers have always monitored their employees in one way or another, to assess the quantity and the quality of a worker's performance. Monitoring should be understood in a broad meaning: employers can decide to use hidden cameras or CCTV cameras; they can open e-mails or keep records of phone calls as well as check regularly the websites visited by employees. As they are responsible for theirs employees, they must be aware to a certain extent of what their employees are doing and how. This need to monitor employees can also be explained by the fact that employees can breach the rules of confidentiality and thus jeopardize the firm, or for reasons of security. Technological progress provides employers a wide range of tools to achieve their goals, such as CCTV cameras and monitoring software. Technically speaking the vision of a Big Brother watching the employees all the time is now possible. Thus this question of employee monitoring involves issues about data protection and human rights such as the respect of private life.
