Nobody in the U.S. expects their corporate emails to be private, and it’s generally assumed that if you are using your corporate computers and corporate email accounts, the company has the right to snoop as a means of preventing “data leakage,” which is a polite euphemism for what we used to call industrial espionage.

European companies have been a little more reluctant to get on this bandwagon due to privacy concerns. In principle, the existence of a written or implied contract between employee and employer, the existence of acceptable use policies, and the overwhelming need to protect corporate secrets from walking out the door, more than counter-balance the privacy concerns and make a very compelling argument in favor of this practice.

Finland’s Parliament just ratified new legislation that allows employers to do just that. Finnish bosses will now be allowed to monitor employee email if they suspect misconduct. Although the content cannot be read under the new Finnish law, employers may monitor the size of attachments being sent, and where they are going. The law also extends to schools, libraries, and telecommunications operators. Compared to policy in the U.S. on this, the Finnish law is still rather tame, but there is still much criticism throughout Europe on the issue.

In reality, this shouldn’t be a big issue. Security protocols are common, both in Europe and the U.S., especially at companies that have sensitive operations. (For example–my son just got a job at the U.S. mint, and told me he has to surrender his pocket change when he goes through the front door.)

Ultimately, the need to ferret out illegal activity, prevent data leakage and protect corporate information must be met, and there will have to be some compromises on the part of privacy advocates.