Is my employer allowed to log onto my computer and read my emails?

Excuse me, that is a COMPANY computer, and those emails of yours were sent and received over THEIR internet access. Damn straight he's "allowed".

He's also allowed to have you charged with theft of service for using his property and his account for unauthorized personal gain.

change your password

PD explains 'The computer belongs to the company, not you, so yes he can'

Yes...they are

If he is the manager or owns the computers then yes, that is if you are talking about your pc at work.

unfortunately yes, they normally have IT depts that do random checks.

Yes because its not YOUR computer it belongs to the company.

No, your e-mails are confidential, but the server is reading daily your e-mails.

not if its your own personal computer,or unless he has a court order granting permission to do so,but would a court allow him to look,very unlikely

Yes. Your work computer should be used for business purposes only and your employer is therefore within his rights to check that you are complying with company regulations.

Well if you gave him your pass word? If you are using his property for the wrong reasons? Is work a necessary place to be dealing with your private mail. Change your pass word and don't use the works facilities for your personal use. Its asking for trouble. Well good luck.

If he owns the computer and has specified user only for work purposes .

Yes, it is legal if you are at work.

He is. The moment you're hired all your work is "copyrighted" and owned by the company (unless otherwise specified in the contract). And email is text, which is copyrighteable. Ever heard about Digital Rights Management?

Related articles: "The right to Read" by Richard Stallman. The text is available on the web.

ifs its a company pc & u r on company time they have a legal
right to do that..

YES, if that is the Companies' Computer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

yes if the computer is being used at work because that means, that it belongs to the company. u also have to remember that they need to protect themselves which is why they can do that. so if u check your emails, make sure u do not open any emails that might contain porno or stuff that might embarrass you to have somebody else to see.

If he owns the computer and the computer network on which the mails are stored and retrieved, yes. He cannot log in and read your Yahoo mails, for example. But if you read Yahoo mail on his computer, he can log them as they go in and out.

If you have an office mail system, he can log in and read all of those.

(This assumes you live and work in the USA. I am not familiar with other countries)

Yes. If your employer owns the computer, the software and pays for the internet connection then technically the E-mails are his, even if they are addressed to you.

Under Federal Law and supported by the U.S. Supreme Court, they are allowed to access all records on any company owned computer. If this is a personal computer (you own it), then you have an expectation of privacy and they do not have that right. If you are using a company internet or intranet connection, then IT can monitor all exchanges and report on findings to an employer. If you are only using a personal account, on a personal computer and on a personal ISP, then they do not have the right and can be sued for invasion of privacy.

Another question might be... "Do I have the right to use the company's computer and time for personal use and should I be upset when I steal the company time and get caught?"

The computer you use at work belongs to the company, as does the email server where you save the email.
Yes they are allowed to monitor your emails, but most companies (even if they do random monitoring) do not actually look at them unless someone has complained of receiving inappropriate email from you or suspects you of sending out confidential information pertaining to the company or if you are breaking the law by using the computer to pass kiddie porn or hate mail. etc.
I find it a good practice to only use the company computer for company business (that is what your supposed to be doing anyway) and keep personal emails to either a web based email service such as Yahoo or on my computer at home.

If the computer that you are talking about belongs to them then yes, they are as its their property.

Protest your emails with a password!

Yes your employer can as the computer is the property of the company you work for and not yours. Employers do tend to include this somewhere in your contract just to get them out of hot water if you find out they have done it. Its the same case when you ring a company and you get the mesage about some calls being logged for training or security purposes. We just don't have freedom anymore, the whole 'Big Brother' thing. Have you given your employer any reason to be searching your files? Really they shouldn't be doing it without consulting you first, it is bad practice. If you don't have anything on your PC that will go against you then don't worry but you do have the right to consult your boss and ask him why it was neccesary to invade your privacy. I would reccomend you look under your companies policies and procedures to internet usage etc before taking any further action so you know your rights. If it bothers you that much you should take out a grievance with your managers line manager. Treat this as a future warning though to be careful of how you use your computer.

the short answer is yes but the employer has to consider that he will have to justify doing it. most companies have a policy of being able to check outgoing messages but you are not responsible for what comes in this is because it is beyond your control. you would be surprised how many companies do not have a policy for use of e-mail and computer equipment for things other than business. the other thing is that if the employer has access to your computer password or the equipment has no password and does access this without your knowledge how can the employer claim that anything that is found has be dealt by you and not someone else. you should be the only person who knows your password and the only other way to access it is via the IT department. not even your manager should know your password. if a record is kept then it would be almost impossible to take disciplinary action against anyone.

I think NOT. What about privacy? OH NO, no matter what job you have that involves computers NO ONE has the right to READ your e-mails. E-mails are no different from regular mail, reading someone else's mail is illegal so....what does that tell you.

you should not be using the work comp for e.mail. it is in work time, you should be working...but, he should not know your password now, should he, how the hell did he get that. change it.

Yes if it's his computer. He can also read your e-mails directly on his server. That's what web-based e-mail is for, although an employer is entltled to monitor even that, to the extent you are accessing it at work. It's just more difficult.

Some employers go so far as to prohibit use of mobile phones and BlackBerrys etc. at work because these inhibit monitoring and recording (either as a point of financial services law or their own policy).

If in yahoo, for example, then no, its private. However, if they have a company system, such as outlook, then they can monitor all your emails.

Yes, the computer is there property.

No, regardless of who owns the computer your emails are private, even if work related. It all falls under the Data Protection Act.
If your employer insists on reading them, kick him in the winkle.