Question....Would This Get You Fired?????? 1

[5150]

I currently work in desktop support for a company here in the US and there has been some unethical things going on with some of my co-workers and I would like to get an opinion if it's possible. I am a very ethical and honest person especially when I am working at someone's desk fixing their desktop but a few of my counterparts aren't. I work on a team that is about 12 deep and a few of them will read other people's email when they are at someone's desk and that person is not there. This feedback has been given to me (and management) from numerous people but yet the company doesn't do anything about it. If it were me doing it and it was even suggested that I was doing this (by 2 or more people) I would expect to be fired. Is my level of thinking off or am I right on target? I find it extremely difficult to work with people like this and I am wanting to know your thoughts?

Thanks

 

[edfair]

Hang tough. Should get people fired but management has no guts. You are right. Ed Fair
efair@atlnet.com

Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply.

Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[Alt255]

Yes.

I'm not suggesting that you should publicize the name of your company... but the employees appear to be violating U.S. Federal law. The employer is responsible for the conduct of the employees (NOT the employees).

If you are working in the U.S. I suggest that you contact the Justice Department A.S.A.P.

Alt255@Vorpalcom.Intranets.com
​

"To run Visual Basic, you must have certain hardware and software installed on your computer.
• Any IBM-compatible machine with an 80286 processor or higher.
• One megabyte of memory."

Visual Basic Programmer's Guide

 

[edfair]

Craig, these people reading the email are agents of the company that owns the right to read the email. I would find it personally offensive for them to do it to me if I worked there but there isn't a whole lot that can be done. But the victims sure can pass the word around and make it uncomfortable. Ed Fair
efair@atlnet.com

Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply.

Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[Alt255]

Sorry! I read the post incorrectly. The matter is internal and can only be addressed in light of company regulations.

Does the company allow its employees to grope around in the pockets of other employees? Probably.

I'm quite embarrassed by my over-reaction but I'm glad 5150 started this thread. It's a good reminder to keep your personal items locked up wherever yo go.

Alt255@Vorpalcom.Intranets.com
​

"To run Visual Basic, you must have certain hardware and software installed on your computer.
• Any IBM-compatible machine with an 80286 processor or higher.
• One megabyte of memory."

Visual Basic Programmer's Guide

 

[VB400]

5150,

I agree with you and I would probably make a stink about it in a professional polite manner.

*** The preceding sentence is not an advise *** Just a cya legal thing B-)
Tarek

The more I learn, the more I need to learn!

 

[PhiloVance]

Who was it that said, e-mail is forever!

or was that Diamonds?

I forget (-:

PhiloVance
Other hobbies, interests: Travel, Model RR (HO Gauge), Genealogy.

 

[iza]

i would sue not the readers but those who let their computer accessible : if anyone can come and read your email, he can as well read your code or documents you're writing (and maybe those are confidential )) => YOU are responsible for locking your screen and basic secure things like that.
just to mess up that forum

 

[Guest_imported]

Just forget about it...!!!

 

[Alt255]

Uncertain about what you mean, Snoopy. Could you clarify?

I don't think this is an issue any of us will forget soon.

Occasionally, I have a lost soul or two digging through my trash for something they find valuable. I don't mind that. They're people with no means trying to stay alive. They aren't trying to dig up my personal information.

Believe me, If I thought they were, my rottweiler would be out the door and inspecting the back-sides of their necks in an instant.

No one has the right to peruse another's personal affairs without their expressed (not implied) permission.

Alt255@Vorpalcom.Intranets.com
​

 

[majestrate]

I disagree, Alt255, if you work at my company, then I have every right to make sure that your email account is not being used for something that my company rules say are "illegal". Now if someone were checking other peoples web accounts and reading through them, I'd have a big problem with that.

I know this will piss a lot of people off, but read the rest first. There have been cases where company's are held liable for one of their employees sending an inappropriate email. How do you know that mgmt didn't ask some of the hd team to check on the accounts as they were responding to a ticket? I know it's unlikely, but you never truly know.

I don't like it anymore than anyone else, but what you keep on a company's IT system, belongs to that company, not to the individual.

This is all IMHO.

 

[Alt255]

Majestrate, I understand your point perfectly. I firmly believe that companies should be able to monitor their equipment and have absolute control over who uses it and the purpose for which it is used. I do not believe that companies should monitor their employee's or spy on their activities without written consent. I think that an honorable employer should be fair with honorable employees. The employer has every right to run a tight ship but the employer should always include considerations for the employee's personal privacy.

This is a tricky issue but I think I am fully in touch with my feelings. If you doubt my sincerity, take a look at the "User Control" software at

http://www.vorpalcom.com

Not a sales pitch. The software isn't for sale. My opinions, however, are available for dispute.

Alt255@Vorpalcom.Intranets.com
​

 

[majestrate]

Oh believe it or not, I'm all for privacy, even at work. I do not believe a company needs written consent to search THEIR equipment for whatever they want. Does the information "belong" to them, no, it's like a ball being thrown on your next-door neighbors lawn, just because it's on his property doesn't mean it's his. However, because it is on his property, he can inspect the ball, as long as it is not harmed or destroyed. Not the best example, but close enough. If you worked for my company, and my company wanted to make sure you weren't doing anything that could be conidered "inappropriate" on my pc/network, then I don't think that my company needs your consent to search the equipment that my company purchased, especially if my company can be sued because one of its employees felt they were "harassed" by something you emailed them, or showed them on your pc, or printed out and either left on the printer or posted up. When I had an account at work, did I have "inappropriate" items in my email, home directory, and hard drive? yes to all three, but I also knew that any one of my bosses could look through any of it and discipline me. My point is that if you don't like people going through your email account at work, because it may have personal items in it, then don't use your work account for personal business. If you have to have a personal email account, then use hotmail or yahoo or whatever.

 

[powahusr]

If these select individuals are reading other people's email for nothing else but their own entertainment, they should be fired, period! It's one thing to audit someone's email which I think is totaly fair in a business setting, but another thing if someone want's get their jollies off prying into other people's business, it's no different than eavesdropping on one's converstation which I think is on the same level as tapping into their telephone line.

 

[davisrd]

When a person accepts a position with a company they expect to bring a certain amount of their personality to the situation. In today's business that includes e-mail. Most companies discourage personal e-mails, but do not police items being sent. Personally, I would feel violated knowing that my e-mails were being read by someone working on my (company) machine; however, it's easy to prevent by only keeping your e-mail client open when you're reading mail. Pretty straight forward, I think. All ya gotta do is...

 

[sleew]

What i would like to say is that reading e-mails of employees could be reasonable if it is done by special team who does it.There's no desktop engineer that has right to read other's mail, only security team could do that and
it must be forbiden to them to talk about it to anyone except there BOSS.Also it should be forbiden to them to talk
about non-problematic mails even to boss.
Just dont use company servers for personal informations
then you will not worry, right?
The security team must consist of people with special profile.They dont talk to much, dont like to talk about the others, has no intimate contacts with employees, follow the rules,conscious about nature of there job,etc...
Did i miss something? Sleew
Compaq & Microsoft TS
sleew@infosky.net

 

[edfair]

Funny how life works. I gripe about people reading other's emails and now I'm doing it.
So what do I do? Open it, close it. Look for what I have to look for and get out. Keep my mouth shut and try to purge any details from my mind. Helps that there are enough messages on enough machines that I couldn't remember the details anyway.
So why do I do it? Because somebody thought it was a good idea to let attachments execute and programmed mail service to let it. Thanks again, uncle Bill. Ed Fair
efair@atlnet.com

Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply.

Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[pivan]

I think you have to be a darn fool to walk away from your desk with your e-mail available to any one who wants to sit down and read it or access it.
Alt255 is right on..

Man...lets be responsible for our actions.
This is not a managment issue it a individual responsibility issue.

If network staff is reading other employees e-mail without a mandate from management then that staff member should be terminated.

As a CTO of a major software development company, I would be a little upset if I found network staff and network managment going through my email, which I consider confidential as it...contains information related to employee performance, layoffs and salaries, not to mention business and technology strategies. These issues of network privacy and security loom larger then someone who wrote a suggestive letter to their significant other. There are ways to catch this sort of communication without having to waste resources by having someone manually go through "selected employees' e-mail


Cheers,
pivan

In not now, when?
If not here, where?
If not us, who?

Just do it!!

 

[McNab]

Just have a nice big (and rusty) leg hold trap under your desk or on your seat. This will keep them away. Guard dog's work well too! A combination of digging a mote around your desk and barbed wire may also help.

If these ppl are doing this as a job (spying), each employee should be made aware that the company has this practise of "spying" on company email. Although, since ignorance is not a defense, even if the company had this clause in their contract and you didn't notice...tough. Comon, we've all wasted company time on personal emails. What do you think I'm doing right now for that matter. Until the internet is completly private, opening emails vs. "snail" mail are two completly different things. To my knowledge, opening others emails is not a federal offense. You don't own email, especially company email. Mind you: the company owns the email, not the employees.

If they are just noisy ppl, feel sorry for them. They truly must have boring lives when they have to go through others emails for "kicks". Ouch! Tell them to get a hobby and feel good in yourself for being a better perosn than they are. Playing "tattle tail" won't help anything and only worsen it for you. If you not involved...keep it that way. And always remember two things:

Do on to others as they would have done onto you.
And
What goes around, comes around! (usually worse too)

Thx

Jamie in Canada