Rights, covered as "private life." Note that although this case came to the court in 2007, the monitorin took place in 1999, prior to the introduction into g English and Welsh law of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 and the Telecommunications (Lawful Business Practice) Regulations 2001, which seek to clarify regulations about the interception of communications. The major fault of Carmarthenshire College was in not having a usage policy in place. Employers and employees should have an agreed-upon policy as part of the contract of employment that clarifies what is and is not acceptable computer usage in the workplace. The employer can then follow normal disciplinary procedures if an employee is using workplace equipment in a manner that is not permit-ted in the contract of employment. Whatever the legal situation, it is clear where potential problems can occur in the workplace regarding information technology use. An e-mail, once sent, becomes a legally published document that can be produced as evidence in court cases involving issues oflibel, breach of contract, and so on. Most businesses rely on their company data to keep ahead of the competition. Therefore, the loss, theft, or sabotage of data is potentially more danger ous than
similar problems with hardware. If a data