Instant Message, Instant Transcript

shams42 writes: "Although the internet has been far from private for some time now, it seems that public awareness and concern over this issue is mounting. This article at CNN discusses the issue of companies monitoring instant messages for cyberslacking or leaking company secrets. There is also the possibility of them being included as evidence in court cases."

Comments

Re:Why?

[ross.w]

Actually we use Lotus Sametime in our company quite a lot for instant messaging.

Being a multi-national company, without this we would be spending a lot of money on international phone calls (although I believe we are looking at VOIP for this too)

It also allows you to share your desktop so you can collaborate on a document. Sometimes we use a combination of the instant messenger and the phone for this.

You can also see if the person you are trying to reach is at their desk before you try to reach them.

It is less intrusive than a phone call and more immediate than email.

Ah yes

[The Cat]

The famous workplace, where your freedom is checked at the door.

For people so concerned with freedom, it is astonishing that the entirety of a person's basic rights are handed over like a movie ticket once the workday begins.

And to top it all off, everyone DEFENDS this by saying, "well, they sign your paycheck."

Newsflash: signing a paycheck != control someone's life.

Here are people who tell you what to do 40, 50, 60 hours a week. What time to sleep. How long to spend eating. What kind of house you can buy. Where you must live. What to say. How to dress. How many phone calls to make. What web sites to visit. And so on. It's worse than grade school. If you don't like it, you're "downsized."

Personal life is not to interfere in the workday. No personal activities of any kind are to be conducted at work, unless you're a manager and you have kids. Then you can "take the afternoon off" or leave early on Friday any time you feel like it. All time off is given begrudgingly, even if it is pre-approved.

Now they'll just help themselves to every word typed or spoken during the workday. Excuse me, but why is the workplace exempt from a person's inalienable rights? Why are companies allowed to treat people this way? Why is a paycheck carte blanche to control someone's life?

If it isn't company business, PAYCHECK OR NOT, it isn't company business. Period. People should be given the freedom to be people before corporate drones.

Your "likeness" and natural copyright

[hyrdra]

This may sound strange, but if a company is recording your chat sessions, instant messages, or e-mail communications, you can sue them for copyright infringement.

Sure, it would get all the merit of some of the recent patent lawsuits, but it's perfectly legal. At work, you have no expectation of privacy and often you even explicitly waive these rights by AUPs, as others have mentioned, so you have no legal high ground.

However of all the AUPs I have seen, none mention the property transfer of your communications, which are effectively your thoughts and are unique to you. This is called your "likeness". You are expressing it in your messages and chat transcripts, and by your employer snooping on you and storing records, they are effectively "copying" your copyrighted material, which you can claim copyright to.

Unless you're in a contract situation, the only works your company owns are those, which it has commissioned. Despite popular belief, it doesn't own everything you do at work -- only the work from your assigned tasks/projects/whatever.

I am no legal expert by any means, but at lunch with a lawyer friend I brought this issue up, and he said if he had a client in this situation he would have whatever logs found non-admissible due to copyright infringement. He then told me about likeness and how it can be used against an employer and possibly even to be on the plaintiff side of a suit. I found it interesting he would challenge this privacy issue from this interesting angle.

I guess you're best actually doing work while at work. If you must have security, use the various methods of encryption. Don't be stupid. :-)