Bosses can no longer snoop on their workers' e-mails and Internet surfing activities following a decision by the country's privacy watchdog, which was made public yesterday.

The Authority for the Protection of Personal Data (APPD) decided that it was illegal for employers to read e-mails sent by their staff and to keep a record of, or monitor, the websites they view on their computers at work.

Bosses will also face criminal charges if they collect and use data from phone calls or other forms of communication, such as e-mail, which their employees engage in.

Lastly, the watchdog ruled that workers will have to be fully informed if Virtual Network Computing (VNC) software, which allows third parties to monitor and have access to their computers via a network, is installed on their PCs. APPD said its ruling was a logical extension of the law that bans bosses from reading their staff's correspondence.