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[Ephemeris]

At apple they let us know.

Infact they made us all install the new software update a few weeks ago. LOL

 

[sangreal]

They certainly aren't violating your privacy, but they may be violating that of the people you are chatting with by intercepting their communications.

 

[Hydrogen Bluebird]

Update:

My company's policy regarding this issue:

“Any information available within IT facilities will not be used to monitor the activity of individual employee in anyway (e.g. to monitor working activity, working time, files accessed, Internet sites accessed, reading of email, im logs, private files etc.) without their prior knowledge. Exceptions are:

 In the case of a specific allegation of misconduct, when Management can authorize accessing of such information to investigate the allegation.
 When any IT officer cannot avoid accessing such information during diagnostics and troubleshooting.
 In such instances, the person concerned will be informed immediately and information will not be disclosed wider than is absolutely necessary.”

I was not under investigation for anything and I reserved the right to have been informed prior to the monitoring if I was being investigated for anything. Asshole IT guy might have something against me because he was the one that did the extensive monitoring.

Company is sanctioning me for doing "non-work related things during work hours" which well, I'm guilty of but the thing that irks me is I'm probably the only when being sanctioned for such an offense when I regularly see other employees also wasting time during work hours (hell, some even browse 9gag).

This leads me to think that only a few people's workstation activities were monitored (to my knowledge, only 2 other employees were monitored) since if they monitored every employee, I'm sure they could have gotten screenshots from other workstations showing unproductive behavior.

Now, I'm hating my company more for breaking company police (monitoring employee activity without consent and with the employee not under investigation for anything) and then singling me out and sanctioning me for an offense which a lot of other employees are guilty of.

 

[dc89]

You've got a case if that's their policy.

 

[sangreal]

Have you raised this issue with anyone now that you know they violated the policy?

 

[Hydrogen Bluebird]

What angers me greatly is how I was monitored. See, this asshole IT guy was given the go signal to do the monitoring (again without notifying any employee) and I am sure he abused it since he even took screenshots of gmail chat conversations between me and my gf EXACTLY WHEN MY GF SAID THAT I SHOULDN'T GO AWOL FROM MY CURRENT JOB. It isn't a coincidence. The dude was watching my every move and reading my conversations as it happened.

It is fucking ironic that a company worried about employee productivity would let an IT guy spy on other employees for extended periods of time / days. I do my job well and I have not failed to do a task or deliver any output and this is how my employer treats me?

 

[Mammoth Jones]

What angers me greatly is how I was monitored. See, this asshole IT guy was given the go signal to do the monitoring (again without notifying any employee) and I am sure he abused it since he even took screenshots of gmail chat conversations between me and my gf EXACTLY WHEN MY GF SAID THAT I SHOULDN'T GO AWOL FROM MY CURRENT JOB. It isn't a coincidence. The dude was watching my every move and reading my conversations as it happened.

It is fucking ironic that a company worried about employee productivity would let an IT guy spy on other employees for extended periods of time / days. I do my job well and I have not failed to do a task or deliver any output and this is how my employer treats me?

If you're on their computers, and on their network never ever be shocked if you're being monitored. I always check with management about internet usage myself. I'll ask my boss and he will usually say as long as I'm not doing anything really bad (pirating/pron) then there's really no issue as long as work is getting done.

 

[StalkerUKCG]

Corporate espionage.

They don't want employees talking to competitors or giving away company secrets. Especially while they are at work.

This is the reason, Iv worked in multiple places that heavily monitored your computer, had no visible recording equipment on the work floor and anything portable had to be switched off before entering the room (ipod,phones ect)

All in the name of Corporate espionage prevention, and DPA.

Your storage area at your desk could be searched at random aswell.

Obviously none of this was explained to me before i gave consent it was all fine print in some huge 150+ page employee handbook.

 

[Cat Party]

Thanks for the update. Is this a large company? The policy would appear to limit their right to snoop drastically, and I'm a little surprised to see that they have such a policy.

How long after the snooping did you learn they had snooped on you?

 

[Hydrogen Bluebird]

Thanks for the update. Is this a large company? The policy would appear to limit their right to snoop drastically, and I'm a little surprised to see that they have such a policy.

How long after the snooping did you learn they had snooped on you?

Not really a large company, there are only 50-60 employees. I learned about it a day or less than a day after the first day they monitored me. However, they continued to monitor me throughout that week. And as I've said, now they are sanctioning me (giving me a formal memo) for an unproductivity offense because of the screenshots taken when the IT guy monitored me.

 

[StalkerUKCG]

Not really a large company, there are only 50-60 employees. I learned about it a day or less than a day after the first day they monitored me. However, they continued to monitor me throughout that week.

Id kick up a stink, if thats the policy then you have every right, if you wanted you go go further with it. You didnt accept to them doing it and their fine print directly goes against what they did.

 

[sc0la]

Relavent update. While I still maintain you had no expectation of privacy, the presence of a written policy could change your situation drastically.

Stop talking on GAF, consult a lawyer. asap

Edit: dont be surprised when they retroactively claim that you had been "under investigation" without your knowledge, to cover their ass.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Relavent update. While I still maintain you had no expectation of privacy, the presence of a written policy could change your situation drastically.

Stop talking on GAF, consult a lawyer. asap

Edit: dont be surprised when they retroactively claim that you had been "under investigation" without your knowledge, to cover their ass.

Generally speaking, violating their own written policy would not give rise to any sort of cause of action, particularly not when he doesn't have any concrete damages.

 

[Hydrogen Bluebird]

I actually submitted a resignation letter because of this whole thing but then I realized that It was more beneficial for me to stay (I like the industry, office area is good/ well maintained) but when I informed management that I would retract my resignation, a few days later, they give me a memo/document stating the unproductivity offense when me and my immediate supervisor had a verbal agreement earlier on that such a thing will not be necessary and that a verbal warning from hmy supervisor was enough.

I can't help but think that the company has violated my privacy as an individual, has lied to me, and has singled me out so I just said fuck it and I have not reported for work the past 2 days. Might as well get myself fired instead of paying an employment bond.

 

[sc0la]

Generally speaking, violating their own written policy would not give rise to any sort of cause of action, particularly not when he doesn't have any concrete damages.

I agree. Like I said I still maintain he had no expectation of privacy even with this new info. I might see it differently if this language was in his actual contract. But it is still enough to recommend he stop talking to us message board chuckle heads and seek counsel

EDIT: Hydrogen. If you are this concerned about it I repeat, stop talking about it on this board and seek legal advice. Do nothing else until then.
Edit 2: IMO you double screwed up by resigning then unresigning before consulting anyone.

 

[Zoe]

I can't help but think that the company has violated my privacy as an individual, has lied to me, and has singled me out so I just said fuck it and I have not reported for work the past 2 days. Might as well get myself fired instead of paying an employment bond.

Will that really get you out of the contract since they have you discussing going AWOL on file?

 

[Indrid Cold1]

Not really a large company, there are only 50-60 employees. I learned about it a day or less than a day after the first day they monitored me. However, they continued to monitor me throughout that week. And as I've said, now they are sanctioning me (giving me a formal memo) for an unproductivity offense because of the screenshots taken when the IT guy monitored me.

Can't believe you have threw your toys out of the pram so drastically over your employer having the temerity to write you up for slacking off on their time / dime. Your ass would have been shitcanned a long time ago at my workplace, and I imagine most others.

 

[Cat Party]

Oh, OP is not in the US. I didn't make that connection, but I recall that other thread now. If you were in the US, you'd have a cause of action against your employer. I don't know if your country has any kind of meaningful employee protection laws.

 

[NH Apache]

I actually submitted a resignation letter because of this whole thing but then I realized that It was more beneficial for me to stay (I like the industry, office area is good/ well maintained) but when I informed management that I would retract my resignation, a few days later, they give me a memo/document stating the unproductivity offense when me and my immediate supervisor had a verbal agreement earlier on that such a thing will not be necessary and that a verbal warning from hmy supervisor was enough.

I can't help but think that the company has violated my privacy as an individual, has lied to me, and has singled me out so I just said fuck it and I have not reported for work the past 2 days. Might as well get myself fired instead of paying an employment bond.

You are putting yourself in a corner by not showing up. Better off showing up, getting paid and finding another job asap.

 

[Hydrogen Bluebird]

Can't believe you have threw your toys out of the pram so drastically over your employer having the temerity to write you up for slacking off on their time / dime. Your ass would have been shitcanned a long time ago at my workplace, and I imagine most others.

I would have been shitcanned if I couldn't do my job but I have always been able to.

 

[Tabris]

I forgot which book I read this in, but based on a couple studies, they found the most productive people were the people that worked extremely hard for an hour, then spent 15 minutes on facebook or just browsing the web, then repeat cycle for the rest of the day.

 

[CrankyJay]

Update:

My company's policy regarding this issue:

“Any information available within IT facilities will not be used to monitor the activity of individual employee in anyway (e.g. to monitor working activity, working time, files accessed, Internet sites accessed, reading of email, im logs, private files etc.) without their prior knowledge. Exceptions are:

 In the case of a specific allegation of misconduct, when Management can authorize accessing of such information to investigate the allegation.
 When any IT officer cannot avoid accessing such information during diagnostics and troubleshooting.
 In such instances, the person concerned will be informed immediately and information will not be disclosed wider than is absolutely necessary.”

I was not under investigation for anything and I reserved the right to have been informed prior to the monitoring if I was being investigated for anything. Asshole IT guy might have something against me because he was the one that did the extensive monitoring.

Company is sanctioning me for doing "non-work related things during work hours" which well, I'm guilty of but the thing that irks me is I'm probably the only when being sanctioned for such an offense when I regularly see other employees also wasting time during work hours (hell, some even browse 9gag).

This leads me to think that only a few people's workstation activities were monitored (to my knowledge, only 2 other employees were monitored) since if they monitored every employee, I'm sure they could have gotten screenshots from other workstations showing unproductive behavior.

Now, I'm hating my company more for breaking company police (monitoring employee activity without consent and with the employee not under investigation for anything) and then singling me out and sanctioning me for an offense which a lot of other employees are guilty of.

Do your surfing and chatting on a smart phone then.

 

[Shadders]

You and your gf were having a kinky chat weren'tcha? Come on, dish.

 

[Robobandit]

I would have been shitcanned if I couldn't do my job but I have always been able to.

They aren't concerned with how much work you are doing. They're concerned with how much more you could be doing without wasting company time on personal stuff.

 

[Tenks]

It should be like gas station surveillance tapes, which are only reviewed if there is a problem.

It costs a company a ton of money to hire an employee. Drug testing simply limits the risk on the company. If they hire a junkie and 2 months later he stops showing up because he's in a heroin coma the company is out a crapton.

 

[Patryn]

My sister, the discovery attorney, refuses to allow anything personal to occur on any work device. If you're on a work computer, anything you do, e-mail, chats, whatever, could potentially be part of the discovery process if your company is ever involved in a lawsuit.

She's had the joy of reading a ton of people's private e-mails in the course of her work.

 

[ReBurn]

I learned years ago to not do personal things with company equipment. I had an overzealous HR manager sanction me for snooping because a friend sent me an email containing a Snoopy web comic where Snoopy was a reporter. The subject was "Snoopy news " and it was the most ridiculous conversation I ever had.

That stuff eventually got her fired.

 

[RevDM]

I bet you're the type of person that logs into personal email and bank accounts at public computers too.

 

[J-Rod]

From my experience, it is reasonable to expect your employer to be monitoring your activities on their PC's and network at any time. I don't want to kick you while you're down, but I think you have handled this in the worst possible way at every turn.

 

[Marty Chinn]

I say let this be a lesson to you. Don't use company equipment for personal business unless you know for sure you're allowed to. Even then, probably a good thing not to. At my job, we get contracted out to other companies sometimes which results in us using their equipment. I absolutely never ever do anything personal on them. It's ok on my computer at work, but anyone we contract out to is something I never ever do. One time we were on site for almost a year so it sucks being restricted like that, but who knows what they're monitoring.

 

[Deleted member 1159]

I sure as fuck have always assumed that my activities on my work computer can be and are monitored. I don't know why anyone would assume they have any amount of privacy when they're using someone else's equipment.

 

[Tenks]

I want to know exactly what the chat between he and his GF was about. I'm guessing it was a bit more personal than simply saying he's going AWOL from him job or he wouldn't get so needlessly upset.

 

[Mammoth Jones]

I sure as fuck have always assumed that my activities on my work computer can be and are monitored. I don't know why anyone would assume they have any amount of privacy when they're using someone else's equipment.

This. I honestly don't get it as well. You're using someone elses machine. Someone elses network.

 

[ghostmind]

.

 

[Tideas]

Is it legal for companies to install monitoring/screen capture software in employees' PCs so that they can monitor absolutely everything that an employee does when using his work PC?

I am asking because I found that screenshots of my chat logs with my girlfriend and family were taken from my work PC w/o my consent. I feel that my privacy has been violated.

why are you performing non-work function on company property? That's basis to fire you.

 

[Zoe]

I want to know exactly what the chat between he and his GF was about. I'm guessing it was a bit more personal than simply saying he's going AWOL from him job or he wouldn't get so needlessly upset.

Well if you read his other thread, he signed a contract with monetary penalties if he were to voluntarily resign. He plans to go AWOL to get out of that contract.

Though where I work, failure to show up to work is considered a voluntary resignation.

 

[Mammoth Jones]

Well if you read his other thread, he signed a contract with monetary penalties if he were to voluntarily resign. He plans to go AWOL to get out of that contract.

Though where I work, failure to show up to work is considered a voluntary resignation.

Just hope he isn't making his grand scheme from his work computer where they are tracking it and will use his admissions as basis to still penalize him, LMAO.

 

[cubanb]

This thread is a good example of how not to handle a situation like this.

 

[Ace Harding]

This thread is a good example of how not to handle a situation like this.

Absolutely. It's especially bad to be discussing it on a public forum. If they were taking screenshots while you happened to be browsing GAF they would know your user name. There are other ways for them to figure that out.

 

[killdatninja]

It sucks that your IT department has to waste their time with such a meaningless task. I'd be more concerned with security, network status, and making sure everything works properly rather than spend time watching if someone is being unproductive.