Personal computers. I’m amazed they still call them that. There’s nothing “personal” about personal computers, especially in the workplace.
So-called personal computers are so “public,” in fact, that you should be aware that the e-mail you send, the information you write in word-processing programs, the data bases and Web sites you access (including pornographic ones) at work can come back to haunt you, even years later.
Even if you hit the “delete” button.
“Many employees believe their PCs are absolutely private, that they can transmit anything they want and only the recipient of their messages will read them,” said John H. Jessen, president of Electronic Evidence Discovery Inc., headquartered in Seattle and with offices in Houston, Los Angeles and Washington.
The reality is quite different, according to Jessen, whose staff of 30 lawyers and computer experts retrieve electronic data in corporate lawsuits.
“Personal computers are programmed with very complicated systems that store e-mail and other data in many places, in different formats and with backups,” said Jessen, who started his growing business in 1987. “Even if you use the `delete’ button, it means you’ve only deleted the copy that was on your screen. It still is somewhere, and usually in multi copies. I have found `deleted’ data eight years later.”
If that information about the delete button sends a cold chill down your spine, you’re not alone. And that’s why Jessen’s advice to employees is so important:
“Never put anything in your computer that you wouldn’t want broadcast on your company’s PA system.”
My advice: Never put anything in your computer that you wouldn’t want to see on the company’s bulletin board.
Jessen emphasizes his concern is about material that may turn up in a search for data for a lawsuit the company is involved in. He doesn’t believe employers read private e-mail or other material on a daily basis.
“I have never run into it. Employers are too busy,” he said.
Though Jessen personally doesn’t think employers routinely snoop (it’s not illegal), a recent study shows that the term “employee privacy” may be an oxymoron.
Nearly two-thirds of 960 employers surveyed by the American Management Association (AMA) say they keep a close eye on their workers’ e-mail, phone calls, voicemail and computer files. The employers don’t feel the least bit guilty about their surveillance, the AMA found. Their philosophy is that what is done on company time belongs to the company.
While the majority of the businesses studied tell employees up front that their work is being monitored, 25 percent don’t say a word.
Jessen, who says electronic data also has been used to prove sexual harassment and racial discrimination, describes some other “electronic snooping” cases he has handled:
– In a lawsuit against a chemical company about toxic materials, Jessen found an e-mail from an employee to the head of a company division saying he shipped the chemicals but “made sure” records of it no longer existed. “You owe me a golf game,” he e-mailed the executive. The employee and executive were fired. The company settled the case out of court.
– An employee filed a suit against his employer. A data search revealed he frequently had downloaded pornographic material. It had nothing to do with the litigation, but when confronted with this information, he dropped the suit.
Does this also mean you can’t job hunt on the Internet on company time without being caught at it?
“I see absolutely no reason that, while on the Net, you couldn’t access job information,” said Art Koff, vice president of Pre Search Inc., a Lincolnwood firm that does recruiting research for corporations.
But Koff, a veteran in advertising and communications, has a caveat: “It isn’t ethical while working for a corporation to spend all day job hunting on the computer. You still have to give a day’s work for a day’s pay,” he said.
