Germany: Worker e-mails free, protected ... for now

The German Ministry of Labor is reviewing the private use of e-mail and the Internet in the working place, which is unregulated for the most part. In connection with this, there also will be an "employee data protection act," which is under parliamentary review next year, which specifies that the content of e-mails as well as Internet sites visited shall remain private -- not even employers are allowed access, except in suspected cases of abuse. Full story (in German). -- ZDNet Germany