Many of our clients are discovering that the reception of Spam in the e-mail accounts is a real problem, one that is getting worse everyday. This situation has become a highly important issue in the labor scene, since it reduces the productivity of the employees and generates a real risk in the company's computer systems.
For this reason, many employers are trying to implement solutions against the Spam, that enable the system to block out and reject the non-requested messages, as well as other options of monitoring activities that watch the type of Internet pages that the employees visit and other improper activities.
Nevertheless, this kind of supervision of the electronic mail and the Internet pages is intimately related to very important subjects such as privacy, personal data protection, labor relations, electronic communications, human rights, and constitutional rights, among others. Furthermore, the applicable laws and their interpretation are rapidly created, developed, or modified.
For a long time, Mexico has been left behind concerning the protection of personal data matters. Nowadays, there is no effective regulation regarding this subject, except for a few provisions included in the Federal Copyright Law and the Consumer Protection Law.
It is only recently that we have realized the importance and the necessity of protecting personal information and privacy, mostly as a result of the policies existing in other countries, that have gradually become compulsory for commercial activities.
As part of this awakening, the Transparency and Access to the Governmental Public Information Law took effect in June 2002, and its primary target is to allow the general public to have access to the governmental information, as well as to include certain principles of data protection.
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n the same scenario, on April 30, 2002, the Senate of the Republic sent to the House of Representatives a project seeking the approval of the Data Protection Law.. The new law intends to protect personal data information, in accordance with the freedom of information rights and protection rights granted to the individual under the Constitution. If this law is approved, it will be applicable to those companies and individuals that handle personal data in archives, records, and/or any type of databases; it would thus establish strict requirements for the gathering, treatment, use, and keeping of such information.
Since there is no express provision and by virtue of the many situations that occur everyday in relation to this matter, other ordinances, such as the Constitution, the Federal Labor Law ("FLL"), the Industrial Property Law, the Consumer Protection Law, the Federal Copyright Law, and the Federal Criminal Code are applicable in a supplementary manner.
The monitoring of electronic mails and Internet pages is generally restricted. It is really important to evaluate if it is absolutely necessary to begin any type of supervision activity before actually implementing it.
| By Baker & McKenzie |
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For further information, please contact us at info.mexico@bakernet.com
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