There are two sides to every coin and two sides to every MSN messenger, an online message relay program. While providing a convenient and lively communication channel, it may sometimes prove to be disastrous, landing its users in serious trouble.

Cai, a receptionist with a Shanghai-based company, was temporarily suspended recently after her general manager Ge saw details of Cai's MSN conversations during supply transactions with an office supplier on her MSN chat log, wrote the Shanghai Morning Post.

On October 23, 2006, Cai, returning to her computer from a ten-minute errand, found her manager Ge looking at her computer that she had left in the care of a colleague while she was out.

"What are you looking at?" Cai asked.

Ge, instead of answering Cai's question, called Cai into her office. Ge told Cai that she had read her chat log, and said that talks on office supplies transactions reveal Cai might have received commission from the supplier.

Cai said she didn't do it, but Ge still temporarily suspended her from work.

During an interview with the paper, Ge said she did not intentionally read Cai's MSN chat log.

"On October 23, Cai left her desk without shutting down the MSN messenger. The colleague who took her place in her absence noticed in Cai's chat log that Cai had been talking about purchasing office supplies. The colleague then referred her discovery to the human resources manager, who reported it to me," Ge was quoted by the paper as saying.

Ge told the paper that besides the office supplies transactions, Cai also talked about the company leaders, saying things such as "the general manger is tough," things that an employee is not expected to discuss with clients.

Further investigation revealed that the office purchase accounts, which were Cai's responsibility, were in a mess. For example, Cai signed on goods delivered without any receipts. In other cases, the actual number of some office equipment does not match the number signed for.

On October 24, Cai complained to the proper company authorities about Ge's unauthorized reading of her private chat log. She claimed it was an invasion of privacy. She asked that Ge apologize to her in front of all other employees, but her request was denied. Cai said that she is planning to take legal action.

Wang Zhan, a lawyer with a Shanghai-based law firm, said that whether Ge's behavior constitutes a privacy violation remains to be seen.

Wang told the paper that when using MSN messenger, employees are expected to comply with company regulations and not to do anything harmful to the company. If they are found to be doing so, it is difficult to determine whether the company is violating their privacy or not.

But he stressed that a company does violate employees' privacy if it uses software to monitor MSN messenger.

The case also sparked a hot debate among netizens on sina.com, a Chinese news portal.

Some of the netizens wrote that there is no such thing as privacy during work time.

"The computer Cai used belongs to the company, so does her time and the Internet connection. It is nonsense to speak of privacy during working hours," a netizen commented on sina. com.

Others disagree.

"The right to privacy does not change between work and private life. If no privacy exists during work hours, does that mean that employees have to let the boss listen in on their phone calls?" argued another netizen.