About 57 percent of the 889 respondents said they don't object to employers monitoring their e-mail and Internet activities in the workplace, while only 45 percent said it's OK for the government to do the same thing, according to the study.

"I think our findings are mixed. Some would argue that all surveillance is bad and somehow is violating our privacy but, for the most part, the public is willing to cut some slack to employers, and maybe even government, with the exception of maybe wiretapping," said Larry Ponemon, founder and chairman of the Elk Rapids, Mich.-based independent research institute and a Computerworld.com columnist. "In terms of e-mail monitoring [by the government], people are unsure [26 percent] -- so the government may be able to change the minds of people as to why this may be necessary, but there's still a large number of people who say they don't think it's a good idea. Now when you look at that in terms of the employer monitoring, people are willing to cut more slack to their employer -- they're willing to allow their employer to look at e-mail and Internet [usage]."

Ponemon said people think it's OK for their employers to monitor their online behavior if they're in the workplace.

"But if you're a consultant or a sales employee, and you're always on the road, and you're given a laptop that's issued by the company, and it's off hours, it's kind of like, 'We want our employer to leave us alone then,'" Ponemon said.

When it comes to spyware, "we hate it," Ponemon said. In fact, 71 percent of the users surveyed didn't want any spyware downloaded on their computers.