Patricia Hewitt the e-commerce (what a joke) minister has given the green light to allow firms to spy on email and listen in on phone calls any time they please.

The people at work are adults, and need to be treated with respect. Everyone sends the odd email getting mates together for a beer or telling the spouse the car broke down, everyone makes short phone calls!

Its a trade off that you expect your employees to be sensible and responsible.

This unfettered spying breaks the privacy laws of the European convention on human rights, and the sooner the first law suits start to hammer abusive employers on that fact the better

Blair likes the idea of a media and communication controlled state as much as the Chinese despot who runs that barbaric government in Beijing.