Bill requires companies to tell if they snoop

A bill has passed the California State Senate that requires companies that snoop on their employees' Web habits to post a policy about it. The bill now heads to the Assembly for a vote. Under the bill, sponsored by democratic Sen. Debra Bowen, companies would not be prohibited from tracking their workers' e-mail and Internet surfing, but they would first have to tell employees that they were doing so. Two similar bills by Bowen have passed in recent years, but Gov. Gray Davis has vetoed both of them, saying they would burden companies unnecessarily.