were my workplace privacy rights violated?

[hans007]

So here goes... I know some of you guys are far smarter about legal issues than me and I value this community... so...


Anyhow, I recently recieved a job offer for a new job, which I am taking. Yay me.

So... today I gave my 2 weeks notice. Scheduled a meeting with my director and said... i'm quitting. She said "is that it?" and i added that i wanted my last day to be xyz in about 2 weeks so i could help the transition (I am not a total ass).

Anyhow, she basically left the meeting room I was in and it was somewhat bizarre since she didnt try to convince me not to quit at all. that said i was talking to another coworker about it and he pulled me aside to tell me some other parties might try to convince me to stay etc.

anyhow at this point i had forgotten to lock my workstation and yahoo mail was logged in with a cookie and still on screen while i was talking to my coworker. Now i know if i was sending email with my work email account they can read it... BUT they sent a computer security person from work, to my desk while i was away talking to my coworker and he seeing the yahoo personal email account up, saw that my offer letter for the new company was the top email.

just as i got back i saw that he was at the "email forwarded" part of yahoo. luckily i had set the yahoo option to keep sent emails in the sent folder.


so anyway, i know they can sniff packets, read my work email etc. but can they actually USE my yahoo account, regardless of it already being logged in? I figure this would be like if i had a company paid for hotel in abusiness trip and they came in and sniffed all my underwear right?

 

[JS80]

wow, that is dirtbag of them to do that. that's a clear violation of ethics and worthy of legal action.

 

[sixone]

You left it open, on a company-owned workstation. You lose.

 

[spidey07]

their computer, they can do anything they want with it.

 

[waggy]

you are an idiot for doing stuff on a work computer. you have NO privacy at all regarding the work computer.

 

[Platypus]

Originally posted by: sixone
You left it open, on a company-owned workstation. You lose.

You have no expectation of privacy, lock your sh!t next time.

 

[JS80]

logmein.com FTW

 

[Looney]

You really are dumb for doing all this on your workstation.

 

[firebyyrd]

Well, you left the computer on, I don't see why they can't use their computers that they bought.

but that still is pretty harsh, file a complaint. I'm sure if you do, something may happen =/

 

[Malak]

That is quite inappropriate, however, I have done the same thing to people who keep their accounts open at unlocked or public stations. It is very important that you shut that stuff down before leaving the station.

You are quitting so I don't see any reason to raise drama about it if he forwarded it to someone in your organization. If he however forwarded outside the organization, then I would raise the flag.

 

[hans007]

yeah , but i figured the difference is he actually used my yahoo account.

sure i had it open and i forgot to lock it. but does that mean they can say create emails with my personal email account just because it is logged in. what i said to them was, the that files were not on their network, and only a cache of the actual yahoo page was on their systems.

like i had not done ANYTHING on their systems... we are allowed to use the internet here, and i had just been checking my email earlier that day and forgot to close that firefox tab. the email was on yahoos system, so by clicking around and using yahoo didnt they basically use yahoo on my behalf and impersonate me on yahoo?

 

[JulesMaximus]

Did he actually forward the email to someone else? Just curious.

 

[chrisms]

That was extremely unethical your company and feel fortunate that you are leaving, however as others have said it is their property and your fault for leaving the account open. Get over it and move on with your new job, no sense in dealing with those people anymore. Chalk it up as a learning experience to not check personal e-mail accounts at work.

 

[kranky]

Let's say for the sake of argument they did violate your privacy. What do you want to do about it?

 

[Malak]

You opened your private email on someone else's computer. Nothing you can really do.

 

[DainBramaged]

I cannot offer anymore insight into the legal aspect, but I have to say that it seems to me that they had NO right to use your personal email like that regardless of whether or not it was on THEIR computer. I'd be pissed and I'd be doing something about it. (I just don't know what. )

 

[her209]

Wow, just because the computer belongs to them doesn't give them the all authority to do whatever they want. I'd consult a lawyer. Its clearly a violation of business ethics.

 

[k1pp3r]

Where you face a hard time is that with a company asset. Anything you look at, create, revise, email, publish, etc. the company OWNES, now you. Therefore if it is something that you do not want your company to have any pull over, do it at home. Otherwise, they own it.

Oh and if this is a corp. environment there is no such thing as privacy, just a note

 

[Al Neri]

Read your company's Code of Conduct or Code of Ethics on workstation usage. If the company is at all competent they will have a clause saying that anything you do on your (their) work computer can be held against you and is permission of the company and the company can monitor and do whatever they wish. sorry mang.

make sure its there the 1/1,000,000,000,000 chance it isn't.

The policies should be readily accessible on your intranet. Good luck.

 

[her209]

Originally posted by: k1pp3r
Where you face a hard time is that with a company asset. Anything you look at, create, revise, email, publish, etc. the company OWNES, now you. Therefore if it is something that you do not want your company to have any pull over, do it at home. Otherwise, they own it.

So if I log into my bank account on my work computer, does that mean they now can transfer money out of my account to theirs because "they own it"?

 

[radioouman]

You shouldn't be doing that stuff on your employer's computer... what did you expect?

 

[Malak]

Originally posted by: her209
Wow, just because the computer belongs to them doesn't give them the all authority to do whatever they want. I'd consult a lawyer. Its clearly a violation of business ethics.

There is absolutely zero reason shown to contact a lawyer. It's a waste of time, they are quitting anyway.

 

[Al Neri]

Originally posted by: her209

Originally posted by: k1pp3r
Where you face a hard time is that with a company asset. Anything you look at, create, revise, email, publish, etc. the company OWNES, now you. Therefore if it is something that you do not want your company to have any pull over, do it at home. Otherwise, they own it.

So if I log into my bank account on my work computer, does that mean they now can transfer money out of my account to theirs because "they own it"?

gray area. but theoretically they can get your info that way....... it's an EXTREMELY gray area ATM.

 

[k1pp3r]

Originally posted by: her209

Originally posted by: k1pp3r
Where you face a hard time is that with a company asset. Anything you look at, create, revise, email, publish, etc. the company OWNES, now you. Therefore if it is something that you do not want your company to have any pull over, do it at home. Otherwise, they own it.

So if I log into my bank account on my work computer, does that mean they now can transfer money out of my account to theirs because "they own it"?

Never seen an online bank service that will let you transfer to just any account, probable for that reason.

 

[chrisms]

Originally posted by: her209

Originally posted by: k1pp3r
Where you face a hard time is that with a company asset. Anything you look at, create, revise, email, publish, etc. the company OWNES, now you. Therefore if it is something that you do not want your company to have any pull over, do it at home. Otherwise, they own it.

So if I log into my bank account on my work computer, does that mean they now can transfer money out of my account to theirs because "they own it"?

This isn't a transfer of real value (money) but of information. The company would be able to check the account information you viewed just as they can check the e-mails the OP viewed.