[distances]

Yes, but it's me who's using the tools, and it's my privacy that is on the line. Same goes for watercooler chat and papers on my desk, it's not different just because it's done with a computer.

I'm not sure what the situation is in the US, but here email is given the same legal status on secrecy of correspondence as old-school snail mail has. There is a way for employer to legally read emails in case of e.g. espionage suspicions, but that requires a note and follow-up with a public privacy official.

[edmundsauto]

I argue that it's "you-as-employee" whose privacy is on the line, not "you-as-individual". I expect my employer to own the work I do -- that's the contract I agreed to. As they own the work, and the systems used to generate it, it seems reasonable they have unlimited access to what I'm doing.

(I do like the required notifications through HR, but it doesn't sound like that is a prerequisite to ask permission, even in more privacy-stringent places)