Owing to the increase in reports of employees facing disciplinary actions for inappropriate use of the internet or email, has led to large organisations taking measures to inhibit employees access to such websites in future.

This has meant that companies such as Surfcontrol face a brighter future and have certainly benefitted from such moves as their revenues have tripled in a short period of time, whereas in the past they were reported to have made a loss. At present only 1% of US businesses use filtering software.

Over the last six months, there have been incidents such as forty one members suspended from Royal & Sun Alliance for circulating a rude Bart Simpson e-mail and an explicit e-mail Norton Rose, a London Law firm employee and his girlfriend was broadcast and read by thousands of people on the internet.

Another survey highlighted that as much as £25m a year could be costing businesses with their office workers conducting their own personal activities using the internet when they should be working, during office hours.

Ford have more recently reported that they are to discipline three of their employees for unauthorised use of the internet, leading to the fact that more employers are becoming concerned over how their employees use the internet during office hours Other recent research has highlighted that one in five employers monitor the use of e-mail within their organisations without properly informing their staff.