Schwarzenegger vetoes e-mail spying notice

SAN FRANCISCO: California Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill that would have required the state's employers to give workers written notification if e-mail and other Internet activity is being monitored at work.

"Just because your boss owns the computer and pays for the Internet access doesn't mean he should have the right to spy on you without telling you," Sen. Debra Bowen, the bill's sponsor, said in an e-mail.

"I understand why companies don't want to come out and tell employees point blank 'Guess what? We read your e-mail,' but people deserve the right to know if it's company policy to snoop," said Bowen, a Democrat from Redondo Beach, California.

The legislation would have required employers to give a one-time written notice of plans to read employee e-mail, track their Internet usage, or use other electronic devices to monitor workers on or off the job.

Supporters of the bill, which was modeled on a state regulation requiring employers to disclose whether they monitor employee telephone calls, said it would make California a leader in the effort to protect employee privacy online and could serve as a model for similar bills in other states.

Critics said it would burden employers and is unnecessary because employees already assume online activities at work are monitored. Business groups also opposed the bill because any violation of it would be considered a misdemeanor.