Snooping bosses.

• Author: Ehrenreich, Barbara
• Position: Electronic surveillance program

Hi George! Since learning of the White House's electronic surveillance program, I'm adding a little greeting to the President in all my e-mails, phone calls, and voice-mails. After all, it must get tiresome combing through my correspondence with my brother on up-to-date dry-walling techniques, while searching for a coded message to Al Qaeda. And what did the National Security Agency make of the latest batch of baby pictures e-mailed by my nephew in Oklahoma?

But it isn't just the big snoop at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue that you have to worry about these days. Chances are that your employer has already been monitoring you--not for ties to terrorist organizations, but for signs of insubordination, drug use, mental illness, or any other symptom of a "bad attitude." Everyone claims to crave privacy: Hence, we generally close the door when we use the bathroom and lower the shades at night. But we surrender all rights to privacy when we go to work.

The most recent survey I can find, from 2001, shows 78 percent of employers monitoring their employees in one way or another. Internet use is the most common target of snooping bosses, often including web-surfing done on lunch and other breaks. Is it anybody's business if you want to spend your personal time in SimCity or on Match.com? And what if you're looking for help with a problem you really don't want the boss to know about--depression, drinking, or a self-destructive teenage child?

E-mails aren't exactly private either, and I've read of some employers using programs that allow them to view even deleted words. Suppose you refer to the branch manager as a "son of a bitch," then think better of it and change that to a "person with an innovative leadership style." Too late, he's already seen your first assessment.

The boss is also entitled to search your purse or backpack, presumably for stolen goods. How many purloined staplers or paper clips do they find? I don't know, but I've heard of purse searches being used to detect union literature, too.

And what about the widespread practice of drug...