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At a seminar entitled "Effective Internet Management" Conall Lavery, Managing Director, Entropy urged Irish companies to introduce a comprehensive security policy to ensure that they and their employees are protected from potential legal action.
He said that because the use of Internet and e-mail is growing at a rapid pace the environment where people are doing business is changing. Lavery insisted that a strategic approach towards the management of security issues must be taken. He noted that as 40 percent of people in the workplace use e-mail and the Internet regularly it is impossible for employers to monitor all activity over the medium.
"A company, or an employee, can be liable for a sexual harassment case if material that is transmitted over a company network is deemed to be inappropriate. This is regardless of whether or not the company is aware of the transaction," Lavery said.
Richard Willis, e-commerce specialist with leading law firm Mason Hayes and Curran told the seminar that there are a number of security and confidentiality risks associated with transacting in the electronic world.
"Although the majority of existing legislation was not designed with the electronic world in mind it is constantly evolving in a greater effort to ensure compliance in line with the development of electronic communication," said Willis
Willis added that the Electronic Commerce Act 2000 attempts to bring about the fusion of existing legislation with doing business in Ireland.
The issue of legal rights for employees was also raised at the seminar. The seminar was told that in dealing with these issues, employers have to be cognisant of employees' legal rights particularly when it comes to monitoring staff.
IBEC has developed guidelines which companies can incorporate when developing their security policies.
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