Employers can read workers' private messages sent via chat software and webmail accounts during working hours, judges have ruled.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) said a firm that read a worker's Yahoo Messenger chats sent while he was at work was within its rights.
Judges said he breached the company's rules and that his employer had a right to check he was completing his work.
The judges said that unregulated snooping by employers would not be acceptable.