French worker loses privacy claim over 'personal' porn on work PC

摘要

A French man has lost his legal claim that his human rights were breached when his bosses opened files containing porn on his work computer.Rail worker Eric Libert argued that his privacy had been infringed when French national rail operator SNCF discovered the files.He had worked for SNCF for 49 years until being suspended in 2007. When he returned the following year he was told that porn photos and videos had been found on his PC. He was sacked in July.Libert took his case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), after losing an industrial tribunal and further appeals in French courts.He claimed that because he had marked the files 'personal', French law prohibited SNCF from looking at them. He said it undermined his "right to respect for private and family life", as outlined by Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.