At my work you'll get fired for using the internet or email for personal use. Almost everything on the internet is blocked by a firewall so I think all the people that have been fired were really going out of their way to surf the net.

I could get fired if I email a co-worker "When do you want to go to lunch?". Yes, it SUCKS. But everyone's been put on notice and we've all signed forms to acknowledge it.

And, yes, they have in fact fired people for personal email!

I have to say, as an IT person, that people using their work email address for personal stuff is one of my pet peeves. There are so many free email services that there is no excuse. It's ok to check your Yahoo email at work, just don't use your work email for personal stuff. The biggest peeve is when they ask me to support or install something (like Yahoo Messenger or AIM) when it's clearly against corporate policy. Or "My son just sent me pictures of my grandbaby, can you help me make it my wall paper?". Uhhh, no. It is against policy to receive those pictures via email and it's against policy to change your wallpaper. It is your WORK computer, use it for work. There are 19,000 employees and you just clog up network resources and hard drive space when you forward jokes/pictures/mpegs/etc. at work.

My company does filter websites for key words like "gambling", "sex" and "games", but they believe it's ok to check the news headlines from time to time, etc. Often, I am installing things on one PC at my desk while surfing on my own PC. When you're installing Windows XP, there is a lot of waiting time in between steps that require my intervention. IF an employee is not getting their work done, then their internet log can be sent to their manager, but it's not done unless it is suspicious. People have been fired for gambling and porn surfing (before the filters).