A Threat to Employee Privacy in the Wired Workplace Annotation. Opening sentences provide background for thesis. As the Internet has become an integral tool of businesses,company policies on Internet usage have become as common aspolicies regarding vacation days or sexual harassment. A 2005study by the American Management Association and ePolicy Institute found that 76% of companies monitor employees’ use ofthe Web, and the number of companies that block employees’ access to certain Web sites has increased 27% since 2001 (1). Unlike other company rules, however, Internet usage policies ofteninclude language authorizing companies to secretly monitor theiremployees, a practice that raises questions about.
