"Is it snooping?"

Monitoring activities is part of the upkeep of any server. There has been quite a bit of talk in recent years of privacy being violated using technology. How would you define the difference between good monitoring practices and playing the role of “Big Brother” in a small company? Are there ethical considerations that a person needs to take into account when defining their policies? Please explain/discuss

"Snooping" is a third party collecting information without the knowledge of the two principals in the communication. A web site logging information on their own site's transmissions is not snooping. Neither is monitoring employee's email on business matters. Monitoring personal email would be snooping.

The policy should be based on whether the two principals in the communication (your customer and your web site) have a reasonable right to believe their communication is private.