IT ethics in the workplace

IT ethics in the workplace
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Subject Author Date
IT ethics in the workplace les 03-22-2005
Posted by les on March 22, 2005, 11:07 pm
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Wanted to ask opinions.
I don't know where is the best forum for this, so I'll try here unless
someone has better ideas.

My wife was sending an email at work to her friend, and mentioned
she just learned she was pregnant. This good news was passed by
email. The IT guy at her company somehow read this mail and then
passed this "gossip" along in his conversations with other employees.
My issue here is two-fold :
1. Is personal email on company computers private or not?
2. Are the ethics in transmitting content of a non-threatening nature
such that this would be construed as violation of privacy?

My wife has no ill feelings toward this person, but thinks this behavior
is inappropriate and wonders what the consensus is. She wants to
confront him about this breach of ethics.
Thanks for any opinions.

Dr. Balla





Posted by Barry Margolin on March 23, 2005, 12:26 am
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> Wanted to ask opinions.
> I don't know where is the best forum for this, so I'll try here unless
> someone has better ideas.
>
> My wife was sending an email at work to her friend, and mentioned
> she just learned she was pregnant. This good news was passed by
> email. The IT guy at her company somehow read this mail and then
> passed this "gossip" along in his conversations with other employees.
> My issue here is two-fold :
> 1. Is personal email on company computers private or not?

This probably depends on the jurisdiction and company policies. In many
US companies, use of company-provided computers is assumed to be for
work, and subject to monitoring.

> 2. Are the ethics in transmitting content of a non-threatening nature
> such that this would be construed as violation of privacy?
>
> My wife has no ill feelings toward this person, but thinks this behavior
> is inappropriate and wonders what the consensus is. She wants to
> confront him about this breach of ethics.
> Thanks for any opinions.

While I agree that this was inappropriate, a good rule of thumb is never
send something in email if you wouldn't want it to show up on the front
page of the newspaper.

--
Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu
Arlington, MA
*** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me ***


Posted by Walter Roberson on March 23, 2005, 5:56 am
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:Wanted to ask opinions.

:The IT guy at her company somehow read this mail and then
:passed this "gossip" along in his conversations with other employees.

:My issue here is two-fold :
:1. Is personal email on company computers private or not?

Depends on jurisdiction.

:2. Are the ethics in transmitting content of a non-threatening nature
:such that this would be construed as violation of privacy?

If there is a policy in place that allows the use of the email system
for personal email, and if there is no policy in place saying that
personal emails are subject to monitoring and public revelation, and if
you are within the United States, and if the email system is used for
any manner of financial or interstate transactions [thus making the
email system a "federal interest system"] -- if all these hold,
then the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) may apply,
with the employer being deemed under those narrow circumstances
to be acting as an ISP with respect to the private email. The
ECPA permits monitoring of email at an ISP (as necesary to
protect the property rights of the system owner), but the ECPA places
limits on revealing any information so monitored -- including
limits on revealing the information to law enforcement officials.

To the extent that the circumstances match with the ECPA's
definition of what an ISP is, then the reading of the information
may have been legal but revealing the information to -anyone-
who did not have a strict need to deal with the information
for work reasons may have been illegal.


:My wife has no ill feelings toward this person, but thinks this behavior
:is inappropriate and wonders what the consensus is. She wants to
:confront him about this breach of ethics.

If there is a strong monitoring policy in place, then that's
one thing. But if there is no strong policy, then the
administrator should, in my opinion, be keeping quiet about
anything private that was viewed.

Reading messages in the line of duty is sometimes a practical
necessity, but revealing the contents seldom is.

--
"This was a Golden Age, a time of high adventure, rich living and
hard dying... but nobody thought so." -- Alfred Bester, TSMD


Posted by Unruh on March 23, 2005, 7:05 am
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>Wanted to ask opinions.
>I don't know where is the best forum for this, so I'll try here unless
>someone has better ideas.

>My wife was sending an email at work to her friend, and mentioned
>she just learned she was pregnant. This good news was passed by
>email. The IT guy at her company somehow read this mail and then
>passed this "gossip" along in his conversations with other employees.
>My issue here is two-fold :
>1. Is personal email on company computers private or not?

Probably not.

>2. Are the ethics in transmitting content of a non-threatening nature
>such that this would be construed as violation of privacy?

Probably not. However, your company may well have a policy on sysadmins
reading personal mail and especially passing it on to others. That is NOT a
part of their jobs, and if I were their boss I would be very very worried
about the emails of mine they had read and passed on. Ie, in many companies
this would be a firing offense.



>My wife has no ill feelings toward this person, but thinks this behavior
>is inappropriate and wonders what the consensus is. She wants to
>confront him about this breach of ethics.

It certainly is inappropriate.

>Thanks for any opinions.

>Dr. Balla





Posted by M. Trimble on March 23, 2005, 8:31 am
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les wrote:

> Wanted to ask opinions.
> I don't know where is the best forum for this, so I'll try here unless
> someone has better ideas.
>
....snip...
> 1. Is personal email on company computers private or not?

> 2. Are the ethics in transmitting content of a non-threatening nature
> such that this would be construed as violation of privacy?
>...
> She wants to > confront him about this breach of ethics.
> Thanks for any opinions.
>
> Dr. Balla

It's a company-owned computer, provided for doing the business of the
company so there is no privacy - officially.

Unofficially, it's a mixed bag. Some officials will turn a blind eye to or
even not care about the occasional personal e-mail (occasional having no
set definition here), so long as it's not illegal/immoral/etc. and doesn't
interfere with productivity. Some officials say and mean NO personal
activity, end of discussion. So that depends on the company management.

The ethics are another matter altogether. I provide data management/storage
for a select group of pepople on a contract basis, and I hold myself to an
ethical standard which is similar to that of the medical or legal
profession - don't disclose anything at all.

When in the workplace, I would hold myelf to the same standard, expecting
others to do the same, as a matter of courtesy or professionalism: reveal
what I absolutely must, but just forget the rest out of hand. Sort of like
not eavesdropping, or evesdropping then intentionally forgetting what I had
heard.

Hope this helps.
M


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