Information technology (IT) managers have long known that privacy rules can have a direct impact on database design and customer relationship systems. Now, they're also learning that international privacy requirements can affect IT in ways that you wouldn't expect. Take the case of Eaton Corporation.. . .
Information technology (IT) managers have long known that privacy rules can have a direct impact on database design and customer relationship systems. Now, they're also learning that international privacy requirements can affect IT in ways that you wouldn't expect. Take the case of Eaton Corporation.

Eaton, a diversified manufacturing company with 52,000 employees, conducts remote periodic scans of PCs at its European offices from its headquarters to ensure its systems are operating with an accurate inventory of licensed software. It also conducts remote virus scans.

But before these scans can be conducted, European rules state that the employee who works on the PC must be notified that the system is about to be scanned, says Jack Matejka, Eaton's director of IT security.