Caught Stealing with Yahoo! Mail?

Does an employer have the right to access an employee’s PC and everything on it? Scott Sidell says no. I read about his situation in the New York Times and Ars Technica. Scott is the ex-CEO of Structured Settlements, who was hustled out of his office after being fired. Apparently, he was logged into his Yahoo! email account when this happened and now Scott alleges that his former company snooped around and copied files from his email account. They found that he’d transferred sensitive company documents, including customer lists and terms of deals, to his personal account. The company also monitored Sidell’s conversations with his lawyers about how to win the arbitration over his firing.

 

A ruling on Sidell’s complaint has not yet been made, but he might find the court on his side, since this case could be influenced by a decision made two weeks ago by the US 9th Circuit Court. According to the recent ruling, personal messages sent via work equipment are off limits to search by an employer unless the employer has an existing practice of regularly accessing the equipment.

 

This case is most interesting to me because Scott was allegedly caught sending company data to his personal account. He just happened to be caught. My guess is that thousands of companies lose confidential or sensitive information this way and don’t even know it. Trade secrets are escaping through consumer communication channels such as IM and Skype all the time. Malicious behavior has always filtered through the “corporate back alley” – a savvy employee who knows which communication routes are monitored, and is smart enough to pick the route where they won’t get caught.

 

This is also another good example of the blurred lines between work and personal communications technology. What belongs to my employer when I check Web based email on the company owned laptop from home?  What can I keep private when I text my friends from my work provided cell phone?  Where is the common ground between an employee’s privacy and a company’s network?  Companies looking to create or revise their Internet policies should clear with employees about how they monitor their communication channels.