Where are you sitting, as you're reading this? Are you at your desk at work, surfing the net during a dull moment?

If you are, your boss may think you're little more than a thief. Some bosses think using the internet for fun or sending personal e-mails in work time is just stealing.

And they can pry into our computers to make sure we're not doing it. They're allowed to check up on the websites we're looking at. They're likely to monitor our e-mails too.

One company in ten has a complete ban on personal e-mails. Another 25% of firms ban personal e-mails in work time.

The number restricting personal web surfing is even greater. Half of all firms either ban it altogether, or stop it in work time.

We were talking about this on Breakfast a few days ago, and that prompted some of those bosses to get in touch.

They don't see why they should pay for staff to have personal access to the web or e-mails or even the phone!

They don't want the bill for the connection charges, the call time, or the lost work time. Some even grumble about the heat, light and air conditioning we use while on line.

One said he's told his staff to get mobile phones and PDA mini-computers and do all their phone calls, e-mails and web browsing that way.

You may have heard the other side of the story on the programme. The trade union umbrella body, the TUC, told us workers should have a right to personal e-mails and to keep them personal.

But at work, there is no right to personal e-mails. Bosses can ban us from sending any messages that don't have anything to do with the business. They can also stop us using the web for anything other than work tasks.

And if they tell us the rules in advance, they've got the right to check our messages and websites, to make sure we're sticking to them.

But here's where it gets difficult. Even if bosses say we're not allowed personal e-mails it doesn't mean they can't stay private.

Bosses can check up on our messages, but they're not automatically allowed to read them, or record their content.

And even if the boss says there's a ban on personal e-mails and surfing, we may be allowed to do it anyway if the boss hasn't been checking up often enough. If the rules haven't been enforced in the past and bosses have turned a blind eye to private messages we're normally allowed to keep sending and receiving them in the future.

Confusion

The reason for the confusion is that there are several new laws covering snooping at work and they don't fit together comfortably.

The first new law actually cracked down on snooping bosses. The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act gave the police and other crime-fighters greater powers to check up on web traffic and secret Internet communications.

But it banned bosses from monitoring our phone calls, e-mails or internet use. Even the age-old practice of switchboard operators listening into the first few seconds of a phone call to make sure it wasn't personal was banned.

If bosses didn't get permission from the person making the call and the person receiving it they couldn't listen in. The same rule applied to e-mails.

The rough rule of thumb was if the law didn't directly say you could do it, it was banned.

Regulations

But a second set of regulations loosened it all up again. The Lawful Business Practice Regulations set out a list of reasons that bosses could give to listen into calls, check e-mails and monitor Internet use all without having to get our permission first.

A simple, general warning that we might be monitored was enough. And plenty of bosses have taken advantage of it.

According to the law firm KLegal, only one company in eight does not check up on its workers e-mail and web surfing.

20% of firms monitor their staff on a daily basis. Another 10% check us out once a week. 10% of firms keep a monthly eye on us.

Many of the reasons for doing this are just plain common sense.

Bosses can monitor and record our Internet surfing and e-mails to make sure we're not downloading porn, sending offensive e-mails, or allowing viruses into the work computer systems.

Keeping a check

They can also check our communications to find out if we�ve signed the company up to a deal, tried to pass trade secrets to a rival, or committed some sort of e-crime. Some companies like those in the banking or insurance industries are required to check up on calls and messages, to make sure staff stay within the industry's own rules.

They can check up our phone calls and messages to make sure our dealing with customers are up to scratch or to monitor quality control and they can use these later for staff training.

They can intercept messages so they can be forwarded to the other people who need them, or listen to voicemails and get into e-inboxes so urgent matters can be dealt with when we're off sick or on holiday.

And bosses can listen to - but not record - calls that are made to confidential helplines; that's not so they can hear our deepest secrets, but to make sure the staff who run the helplines get the right support, training and counselling.

But then we hit another grey area. The business regulations also let bosses pry if they want to make sure we're not breaking the company's rules particularly the policy on e-mail or Internet use.

And they can look at or listen to our messages to check if they are business-related or personal. But that runs up against the laws on data protection and privacy.

Monitoring

The data protection laws say workers should be treated fairly, and bosses should not intrude into our privacy unnecessarily. Companies should only check on messages and web use when there's a real business reason for doing so.

It also says that this monitoring should be proportionate in other words, bosses can't read every e-mail from every worker just because one rotten one has been uncovered.

If there's software that can scan e-mails picking out messages with certain banned words then there should be little reason for reading the others at all.

The same goes for software that can block access to particular websites that removes the need to check up on every site accessed.

And some lawyers argue that if a boss can tell straight away that an e-message or phone call is personal, they should stop reading or listening immediately.

The new laws on human rights add even more to the mix. French judges ruled a few months ago that bosses do not have an automatic right to search through a worker's e-mail inbox. It based its ruling on the European Convention on Human Rights which guarantees a right to privacy in communication.

It's all a bit of a muddle one the information watchdog is trying to sort out. The Information Commissioner is drawing up a code of conduct to help bosses and workers through the maze.

But it's a long time in the cooking. The first draft was issued in 2000 and has been revised three times since then.

The TUC wants that document finished up, and published as soon as possible. It says this is a complex area, and clear guidance is needed urgently.

For once, I'll bet many bosses will agree with that too.