On Wed, 2004-03-31 at 13:34, Howard Lowndes wrote: > On Wed, 2004-03-31 at 13:16, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > I guess it comes down to ethics when I was working for a > > top 10 fortune 500 organisation I was asked to snoop. I > > turned it down stating it's not ethical unless they have a > > valid reason and I would prefer to hear that command from > > HR or the CEO. > > Absolutely agree, in writing, signed by someone who has the necessary > authority to make such decisions. Otherwise tell them to find someone > who is prepared to sign such an authority.
I agree with this. That said, I have a thought I'd like to explore... (Just hanging this off your post, as it let's me state right up front the agreement above.) If (hypothetical) you ride in my car, I pretty much consider your "person" inviolate, yours, not subject to my curiosity, etc... But I'm not sure that's what we're speaking of here (generally, I mean). Suppose (hypothetical) you ride in my car, and then leave a package, addressed to someone, and they then pick it up from my car later, and then they put a package in to return to (hypothetical) you, and when I ask what it is I'm transporting back and forth for the (hypothetical) two of you, (hypothetical) you tell me "it's none of your business". Isn't it? It's my car. The law holds me responsible for what it's used for, because most resonable people hold me responsible for what it's used for, because I'm the one who has control of it, and thus I'm the one who decides what it's used for (or not). I'm not inquiring (in this hypothetical) about (hypothetical) you, I'm asking about what *I'm* carrying for (hypothetical) you. Is this actually about personal privacy, or is it about what the employer is enabling by providing capability without oversight? Are we mistaking what the actual issue is here by rushing to view it in terms of personal privacy? Is that actually what this is about? If I hold a slanderous opinion about someone in my head, that's privacy. If I say it out loud, is it private? Is privacy the issue if I let it out of my person into the world? Am I flying under false colors to consider this as if it were a privacy issue? Again, this was just a place to hang my thoughts, not particularly about anything you say/think/etc. Given the potential for abuse by people within the company monitoring other people's contacts, I agree that this is something that there should be some legal oversight of. But I'm not sure personal privacy is actually involved at all here. Cheers, Bret -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
