VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – It might be time to re-evaluate what personal things you’re doing on workplace computers.

A Supreme Court of Canada ruling set precedent today limiting rights to privacy on work computers.  Workers rights are extended slightly if the company has a policy that says you can take care of personal business while on work time.

University of British Columbia Privacy expert Richard Rosenberg says it’s a fine line though, people often think they can look at what they want when they’re on a break but “it won’t be okay because your employer has the right to see what the employees are doing on the equipment that’s owned by the employers.”

Where personal use isn’t permitted, workplaces can search devices and hard drives and copy all of the information they find.

“You can’t expect there to be total privacy, it’s not your machine, it’s not your time, so what you should best be doing is limit your use of computer for personal activities to very innocent things,” Rosenberg says.

The ruling says police officers still need to obtain a warrant if they want to search your computer.