legal????

flynnser19

ok i just wanted to know if it was legal for the company you work for to look at your stuff online???surely this is an invasion of privacy if you purposely go searching for someone intending on finding something bad like???just wanting to know???
my friend said it is but just wanting to know???
pm me if ya wanna

FunkyChicken

of course they can monitor what you're looking at while you're in work if they want to

Nevyn

if you are part of a socail networking site and you do not wish just anyone to view your profile then you should restrict it.

PeakOutput

if you are surfing the net in work then of course they have the right to see what your looking at, they also have the right to tell you what you can and cant look at during work hours and on their equipment.

if your talking about looking at your bebo after interviewing you as has been discussed on the work forum before then yes of course they have the right to do that to as the information is in the public domain and you can set the profile to private if you dont want the public to be able to see it

flynnser19

no this wasnt at work......i'm just annoyed they bothered. it wasnt my bebo it was something here on boards i thought i posted as annonymous but obviously not???it was just something flippant (sp?)

PeakOutput

i know 3 people who have been fired for posting on boards outside of work hours but that was because the contents of their posts broke their non disclosure agreement and the company warned them that they would be checking things like this.

they cannot search the contents of your home computer but they are entitled to search a public forum like boards to find posts relating to their company. if they happen to link that post to you i dont think there is anything that can be done about it accept suck up the punishment.


edit; obviously depending on what it was you said they could probably ask boards.ie to give them your details(as i suspect they did in the 3 cases i know of but i have no proof of this obviously and personally wouldnt hold it against boards if they did)

flynnser19

i cant even remember which forum i posted it in now which is really annoying which means i cant delete it!!!i was enver told about this ya see!!this is my first big job like and im finishing in like 3 weeks to go bak to college so i dont know anything about all this kinda crap lol. i just felt so invaded you kno??y boss said he knew my security stuff on my account too.

PeakOutput

well he could be bull****ting.............like your name is flynnser so it wouldnt be a huge leap to guess your second name is flynn probably and if im right then he could just fill in the blanks from their and give out to you.

would love to know what you said

flynnser19

wish i could tell ya but theyll find it lol it was stupid wat i did but sure im young i dont think

Rhonda9000

You could try searching for your post to edit / delete it now?

Anything you put on a bulletin board is for public consumption - why on earth would it be illegal for your employer to read it?

The more you describe yourself on all of these posts (e.g. leaving in 3 weeks, what was said / happened at work etc), the more likely it is they can link you further to the original comment.

Tom Young

Flynnser19

Depends on the context.

There was a recent ECHR case (which might come up in the context of Privacy for a certain exam soon) about Employers scanning email and web searches. The general gist was that the employee were not informed or subject to an AUP.

I work in the global telco/ISP space. If you are referring to employers scanning the likes of Bebo, myspace, Facebook and other social networking sites to build a character or profile of your persona well then you'd want to think again about broadcasting your nights out on the 'lash' with the lads.

The Internet is a wonderous place, but anonymity is limited.

Edited post script: Dear FunkyChicken, no they can't unless they tell you explicitly they are. [t]hey being an employer. AUP = Acceptable Use Policy.

PeakOutput

Tom Young wrote:

Edited post script: Dear FunkyChicken, no they can't unless they tell you explicitly they are. [t]hey being an employer. AUP = Acceptable Use Policy.

im not saying your wrong i am only curious for myself.

you are a representative of their company while in work using their systems to access the internet. would the information that is being passed through their systems not be considered theirs to do as they wish with(leaving aside certain personal details etc)?

Tom Young

Copland v UK clarifies that.

Its a split. If the person is advised, as I mention above, say via an Acceptable Use Policy - AUP, then there is no issue.

Though the right to privacy is not absolute in Ireland.

The question is, in your training, induction, representation or contract of employment do you compromise your rights?

Rhonda9000

Tom Young wrote:

Copland v UK clarifies that.

Its a split. If the person is advised, as I mention above, say via an Acceptable Use Policy - AUP, then there is no issue.

Though the right to privacy is not absolute in Ireland.

The question is, in your training, induction, representation or contract of employment do you compromise your rights?

Isn't Copland v UK particularly focused on public employees, with lesser privacy protection to be expected for private employees?

the_syco

flynnser19 wrote:

ok i just wanted to know if it was legal for the company you work for to look at your stuff online???

Ah, you mean like you called in sick, say, Friday, cos of "feeling you have a case of the flu", whilst you put up pictures on your Bebo page of how drunk you got with your mates the previous night?

If so, you're shooting yourself in the foot if its in the public domain, esp if you go by the "6 degrees of separation" rule, whereby if you see someone, they'll somehow be connected socially to you, thus there's a chance that you're somehow linked to your boss in Bebo...

pow wow

It might not be that they went looking for it but rather someone (another employee for example) happened to come across it and reported it. If it related to company matters it could be a breach of confidentiality agreements.

Attol

Basically don't slag off the company you work for and admit to being an employee. It's not that hard to track you down by things you say online. One guy I know of spread lies about the company he worked for here on Boards and had his full name in his email address which was on public display. He was promptly fired. Your contract may say that you're not to represent the company on an unofficial basis. Boards is a very popular site and I regularly come across people I interact with on a regular basis in the real world. You are not anonymous by any means so behave as such.

leeroybrown

If someone posts something online on a public forum then they become fair game for criticism by their employer. On the work board alone I've come across situations where I've figured out who someone's employer is and the exact person/people that they are criticising publicly based on supposedly anonymous posts. I'm sure loads more people have done the same thing.

Plenty of people turn up for interviews not realising that their publicly visible bebo, myspace, facebook or other random social networking site may well have given a thorough going over by their interviewer. There was even a poster recently (a few months ago) who said that an interviewer started the interview by asking them a question about the contents of one of their social networking pages.