Employees could sue over porn spam

European companies could face legal action under new anti-spam legislation if pornographic spam is deemed to create a hostile work environment. Email porn spam in the workplace could land European employers in court for fostering a hostile work environment, a Dutch researcher says. The broad wording of new European anti-spam legislation opens up a new breed of legal snares for Europe's corporate sector, according to Lodewijk Asscher.

"European employers must be aware of the risk of new computer-related liabilities," said the researcher for the University of Amsterdam's Institute for Information Law.

"An important example of such a potential new liability is the risk of being held accountable for not protecting employees against unsolicited pornographic email."

He advises companies that operate an email network to specifically inform users of the nature and content of spam and use filtering technology.

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