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How would you feel about it ?
Don't care. 5 (45.5%)
Keep out. 2 (18.2%)
Only if the boss asks me first and I say yes. 1 (9.1%)
Invasion of my civil liberties and not on. 1 (9.1%)
Other. 2 (18.2%)
Total Votes: 11
Boss accessing your emails
Topic Started: Apr 14 2008, 06:56 AM (386 Views)
somerled
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Admiral MacDonald RN
Comment if you feel the need.

This extends also to your texts, your internet activity while at work, your phone calls while at work.
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Minuet
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Fleet Admiral Assistant wRench, Chief Supper Officer
I am going to presume that you are specifically talking about a work email address and not a private one. I don't care. In fact I think it is thier right to do so. They are the owner of the server and the web address - you are supposed to be using it for work related items only. Most people have a private email they can access at home for more private things.

If you are using your computer at work to access such things as pornography your employer has every right to do what they can to stop that behaviour. It is not private - you are being paid to sit at the desk, that you do not own yourself, and to do work at the computer, that you do not own.

In addition the employer can request that your computer be siezed and searched if they suspect that you are defrauding the company in any way. My husband works as a consultant to lawyers that specialize in this type of siezure. He has also been appointed as a court authorized expert in such cases. He is an expert in computer forensics.

Can you imagine what the heck would go on if this type of thing was covered by "civil liberties"? No one has the right to sit at a desk and be paid to defraud the company or surf the net If you accept a job working for someone then you are expected to do the work contracted for. If you aren't doing it then they have the right to fire you and they have the right to access the computer that THEY OWN to get the evidence required to fire you. Plain and simple.
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AddleConfusion
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Lieutenant
Well I'm the kind of person who when forbidden to do something or have had the ability to do something taken away, wants to do it even more.

Websites such as MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube are restricted where I work. (YouTube I agree with, you can waste away your life on YouTube.) But I only checked Facebook and MySpace on my break, so when they were restricted them I did my best to find a way around it. And I did.

As to office e-mails, I get so much spam from my co-workers I'm thinking about blocking some of them. Between the Jesus e-mails, the support-our-troops e-mails, and the badly animated naked dancing holiday hunk (Christmas, St Patrick's Day, Yom Kippur, etc) I find myself unable to find the real e-mails I want to look at.
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somerled
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Admiral MacDonald RN
I'm taliking about snooping and eavesdropping when they have no reason to suspect you are being naughty.

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Admiralbill_gomec
UberAdmiral
1. You are employed by this person.
2. You are using this person's equipment.
3. Any personal e-mails written on company equipment, on the company premises, personal or not, belong to the company.

So whether or not you are being "naughty" the company has the right to look at whatever mail they want. You are there to work, not socialize.

So, your poll does not have the correct option (i.e., "It is his right to do so").
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Dandandat
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Time to put something here
Other - My Employer has a right to monitor the use of his resources if he so chooses to exercise that right. How ever if he does wish to exercise that right he must be forthright and upfront about it. He must state clearly and make very effort to reach an understanding with his employees that he will be monitoring their use of email.



As a general rule, people need to understand that email data is stored in many places in and out side the control of the provider or the Employer. It is not to be thought of as a privet medium, unless you encrypt your messages and even that’s not fool proof.
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somerled
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Admiral MacDonald RN
Admiralbill_gomec
Apr 14 2008, 11:22 PM
1. You are employed by this person.
2. You are using this person's equipment.
3. Any personal e-mails written on company equipment, on the company premises, personal or not, belong to the company.

So whether or not you are being "naughty" the company has the right to look at whatever mail they want. You are there to work, not socialize.

So, your poll does not have the correct option (i.e., "It is his right to do so").

That is covered by "other".
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Admiralbill_gomec
UberAdmiral
somerled
Apr 14 2008, 08:34 AM
Admiralbill_gomec
Apr 14 2008, 11:22 PM
1. You are employed by this person.
2. You are using this person's equipment.
3. Any personal e-mails written on company equipment, on the company premises, personal or not, belong to the company.

So whether or not you are being "naughty" the company has the right to look at whatever mail they want. You are there to work, not socialize.

So, your poll does not have the correct option (i.e., "It is his right to do so").

That is covered by "other".

No, it wasn't. We're not Kreskin, Somerled.
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fireh8er
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I'm Captain Kirk!
I don't care. They have the right to monitor their computers. Personally, I only use the College's computers for school business only. I save my personal stuff my computers at home.
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Minuet
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Fleet Admiral Assistant wRench, Chief Supper Officer
somerled
Apr 14 2008, 09:15 AM
I'm taliking about snooping and eavesdropping when they have no reason to suspect you are being naughty.

How do you know they have no reason?

You are making a presumption. When we are talking about a large company they could very well have a general suspicion based on overall internet use being too high. They may not be able to pinpoint a specific suspect without looking at everyone's email.

Dandandat, you are correct about them being upfront about it. Most of the time.Truthfully I think it is in most contracts these days. Just like when you call a company and are told the phonecall may be monitored for quality control purposes.

You should be aware, however, that sometimes these things need to be done a bit more carefully. My husband has actually helped in raids done with a warrant in people's private homes and with thier own computers. This is done when there is a suspicion (obviously with a high degree of proof needed to get the legal warrant) that someone has done something like stealing company secrets. If someone has access to the company server from their computer at home they should be aware of this possibility.
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Minuet
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Fleet Admiral Assistant wRench, Chief Supper Officer
AddleConfusion
Apr 14 2008, 09:15 AM
Well I'm the kind of person who when forbidden to do something or have had the ability to do something taken away, wants to do it even more.

Websites such as MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube are restricted where I work. (YouTube I agree with, you can waste away your life on YouTube.) But I only checked Facebook and MySpace on my break, so when they were restricted them I did my best to find a way around it. And I did.

As to office e-mails, I get so much spam from my co-workers I'm thinking about blocking some of them. Between the Jesus e-mails, the support-our-troops e-mails, and the badly animated naked dancing holiday hunk (Christmas, St Patrick's Day, Yom Kippur, etc) I find myself unable to find the real e-mails I want to look at.

You should consider reporting those co-workers to your boss. They should not be bothering you with such emails on company time and you are well within your rights to request it be stopped.
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Dandandat
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Time to put something here
Minuet
Apr 14 2008, 10:58 AM
Dandandat, you are correct about them being upfront about it. Most of the time.Truthfully I think it is in most contracts these days. Just like when you call a company and are told the phonecall may be monitored for quality control purposes.

You should be aware, however, that sometimes these things need to be done a bit more carefully. My husband has actually helped in raids done with a warrant in people's private homes and with thier own computers. This is done when there is a suspicion (obviously with a high degree of proof needed to get the legal warrant) that someone has done something like stealing company secrets. If someone has access to the company server from their computer at home they should be aware of this possibility.

Warrants of course are another matter all together and really don't have anything to do with individual privacy rights on the scale being addressed in this topic. Assuming the warrant was obtained legally.

My opinion about individual privacy rights on the scale being discussed here is that they are abysmal and are wrongly and overwhelmingly in favor of big business. Just because I agree esoterically that the employer has a right to his equipment and the use there off, should not imply that I agree with the normal methods of operation on the matter.

I assume two things will happen in the next decade or so; people will come to accept that individual privacy rights are no longer important, or there will be a major back lash (read riots, boycots, strikes) to the current system. I do hope it’s the later.
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AddleConfusion
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Lieutenant
Minuet
Apr 14 2008, 10:00 AM
You should consider reporting those co-workers to your boss. They should not be bothering you with such emails on company time and you are well within your rights to request it be stopped.

It doesn't bother me to that degree. More an annoyance than anything else. Besides, I like sending them back e-mails praising Allah and Muhammad. :P We have our own little Holy War at work.

Also, I would disagree that work is work and not socializing. More and more it seems that companies forget they have human beings working for them and not robots.

I used to work a job where I wasn't able to socialize much at all and it was terrible. It made the days longer and time I spent there was miserable. I hated waking up in the morning.

Now I work in an office with two other people I adore and we talk while we work and it helps the day go by much smoother. I wouldn't go back to my old job if they offered me double what I was making when I worked there.
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ds9074
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Admiral
As a matter of politeness I would expect my boss to ask me first, however I would have no problem giving access.
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Dandandat
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Time to put something here
ds9074
Apr 14 2008, 11:33 AM
As a matter of politeness I would expect my boss to ask me first, however I would have no problem giving access.

After you erased all elicit martial :P
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