Electronic Surveillance in the Workplace
Bebe
cameras in our offices, and have learned to deal with that. However,
today one of my employees came to me and said she overheard one of the
supervisors listening to one of her messages from her private cell
phone.
It was in no way work-related, in fact the message was from the night
before while she was at home. She said he was sitting at his desk, and
using a small square device, when she heard her friend's voice coming
from his office. She recognized the message as one left for her on her
phone (she was standing in the hallway outside his office.)
I feel like this is such an invasion of privacy, and certainly beyond
any reasonable employer behavior. I don't know if he is doing this on
his own, or if he has the backing of "the powers that be." Mostly, I
don't know what to do about it. I need my job, but I am outraged at
the same time.
I looked up the stautes concerning Invasion of Privacy in my state,
and it clearly states that this is against the law, and he could be
prosecuted. But what proof do I have??
Can someone give me some advice on how to proceed?
Bebe
Naughtius
VERY BUSY Just Now, so I can only relate a Coupla Points... Perhaps
More, LATER...
1. IN ADDITION TO Your State's [Ostensible] CRIMINAL PROHIBITION
against "Invading Privacy of Telephonic Communications", FEDERAL LAW
Prohibits "Intercepting" *Cellular Telephone* Communications...
2. *YOU* don't seem to have "Standing" to Initiate Civil
Proceedings here... It was/is Your Co-Worker whose Private "Cell
Phone" Conversation was Intercepted and Apparently *Recorded*... [And
this is Assuming that Your Co-Worker is Speaking Truth, rather than
Employing some sort of "Let's YOU and The Boss FIGHT" Gambit]...
Frankly, I find it Rather UNbelievable that Joe Supervisor *could
have* Intercepted & Recorded - From ALL The Itinerate Cell Phone
Signals Taking Place at Any Given Moment - A Conversation on a
Specific Cell Phone #... CAUTION: I Smell a RAT... Or an IGNOARANT
SLOB... One YOU Work With... AND Who Does NOT "Supervise" You...
Naughtius "BEWARE The Ides Of Office Politics" Maximus
Bebe
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I don't think he was intercepting and recording her phone messages. I
think he was using some device to remotely access her saved cell phone
messages, as one can access your own landline phone messages while
away from home.
I don't want to "initiate civil proceedings" - I would just like some
advice on how to proceed, and to be able to tell this poor girl what
she can do about the situation. Btw, he's not my boss, he is a
supervisor in another department.
Deadrat
@h2g2000yqg.googlegroups.com:
1. What state are you in?
2. What statute did you look up, and how does it apply to this situation?
3. Do you have any first-hand knowlege of what actually happened?
4. Did your "friend" listen to the message on her cell's speakerphone?
5. Forget it.
Naughtius
Oh... Like a LandLine Speaker Phone? Or *Speaker-Enabled* Cell
Phone?
Geez, Who'd a Thunk?
Ok... For The Record, *This* Activity is NOT "Surveillance" Per
Se... It's more akin to "Hacking"... "UNauthorized Access of a Private
Network"...
AND Every Bit as Illegal/Tortious as "Surveillance"... just
"Illegal/Tortious" under a Different Set of Criminal/Civil Code...
> as one can access your own landline phone messages while
> away from home.
Or At The Office...
AND STILL... I'm Missing the Part where that's [YOUR] Problem...
NEVER Think that I'm Advising the Turning Of a Cold Shoulder to
ANYone Who comes to you for Help...
BUT...
YOU Need Your Job...
[ASK Me How I Know that]
SOOoooo...
What to do, WHAT to do...
FIRST, Let's REGRESS here a little bit...
Here's What MY MONEY BETS is The Actual Scenario:
"Wronged Employee", at some time In The Past, Figgered Out that she
Could NOT Live without a Nifty New CellPhone with all The Cool Bells
n' Whistles like All The Other Kids Have... "Bells n' Whistles the
likes of FREE Voice Mail... Caller ID... Call Waiting... Ad
Absurdum...
MY MONEY BETS Further that: IN The Contract/Paperwork/User Manual
that came w/ The Shiny New Phone was a Section Describing the *Voice
Mail* Service & Functions AND a Blurb Explaining to ALL New
"DontReadTheFinePrint Cell Phone Co." Sucke... Customers, that
"DRTFPCP Co." - AS A STANDARD PRACTICE - Allocates to ALL *NEW* Su...
Customers the GENERIC PASSWORD "1234"... "PASSWORD"...
"SATANisLORD"... and ADMONISHES...sorry... {admonishes} NEW S...
Customers to IMMEDIATELY ACCESS their New Voice Mail and CHANGE the
All-Purpose Everyone Gets The Same PASSWORD to a Personal DOUBLE-
SECRET Password...
ASK Me How I know of this Practice...
A SHOW of HANDS... HOW MANY Cell Phone Users here Personally
Experienced the Foregoing Scenario?
Hmmmm... THAT Guy over there with his Hand Up... Anyone Recognize
him? Bebe? Izzat the OFFENDING Supervisor?
Y'mean "DRTFPCP" Co. will Deign to Sell *OFFENDING Supervisors* the
SAME Service, replete with Generic VM Password & the {admonishment} To
QUICKLY CHANGE the Generic Password ALL New Suc... Customers
receive???
What a World...
GOSH... I HOPE Employees are NOT Silly Enough to give their
Employer their NEW "DRTFPCP" Co. Cell Phone Number...
That would be BAD...
ESPECIALLY IF they Still ain't Changed Generic Password...
Bebe... Take a Sec now and Go Ask Wronged Employee if she Remembers
just such an Occurance...
I'll wait...
While we're Waiting:
STILL... I Missed the Part where That's [Bebe's] Problem...
AND... AS TO Remedying this OUTRAGE...
>
> I don't want to "initiate civil proceedings" - I would just like some
> advice on how to proceed,
FIRST THING: whether or Not The "Generic Password" Issue is Here In
Play... WRONGED EMPLOYEE CHANGES her Current Password...
> and to be able to tell this poor girl what
> she can do about the situation.
Tell her to ummmm... FIRST THING... Well... You Know...
right?? ? ???
>Btw, he's not my boss, he is a
> supervisor in another department
Mmm... BUT a "Boss" [DOUBLE S-O-B Spelled Backwards] Just the
Same...
So... You MUST Be Back by now...
What did WRONGED EMPLOYEE Have To Say WRT The Generic Password/
Change Phenomena?
AS TO Criminal/Civil Wrong Perpetrated by the SSOB... Regardless of
the Actual Circumstances by which he Gained Access to a Private
Network, *Someone* who has Standing to Commence Criminal/Civil Action
will have to Grow a Backbone if she wishes to Pursue The Matter...
IN That Regard... MAYBE "DRTFPCP" Co. keeps a Register of All
Telephone #s Accessing Voice Mail... AND The Time/Date of Such
Access... Y'never Know UNtil Y'Subpoena...
Right AFTER she CHANGES any Long-Standing Generic Password which
Shoulda Been Changed [Months/Years?] Ago...
Naughtius "Hello, My Name Is Inigo Montoya... You Hacked Into My Voice
Mail... Prepare To DIE!!" Maximus
Greegor
the place has audio bugs all over as well.
Is it possible she played this message
out loud and a room bug picked it up?
Did employees agree to surveillance when they
applied to work at this outfit?
Are premesis posted with signs announcing
video surveillance?
Some video surveillance has run into legal
trouble only because of the audio portion.
Does this workplace have any legitimate
reason for high security or is this just
some sicko going WAY too far?
Some places don't allow cell phones.
McGyver
news:da9c4b02-538f-4e72...@h2g2000yqg.googlegroups.com...
One of your obligations as an employee is to give to your employer your best
advice. If you are sure you are right that the law is being broken, your
obligation is to advise your employer that the company is risking civil
suits and criminal penalties. That's the end of your obligation.
So, what to do. First, make sure you are right about the law. Your
research might have been well done, but I'm not confident about that.
Looking up the law isn't as easy as you made it sound. Did you look up
criminal law or civil? Did the law you found pertain fairly well to the
conduct your employee reported? Has the law been gutted by court cases? My
first step would be to do some internet searching for articles written by
attorneys in your state, advising employers about the law. Law firms put
articles like that on their website to brag about being published legal
scholars. The usually get it right.
Second, inform your boss by email or some other written form that the
company is at risk and explain why. Advise.
That's all you can do if you are not in a position to influence company
policy. Your duty to your employer doesn't extend to risking your job by
starting a crusade.
This is a potential lawsuit, but it is not your lawsuit, unless you intend
to proceed concerning invasion of your own privacy. It is not your duty to
inform your employee that she has a potential lawsuit. That would violate
your duty of loyalty to your employer. You should be trying to correct your
company's practices, not advising people to sue the company.
You should tell the employee that you are taking steps, using the internal
political system and chain of command. Also, ask her to bring all further
incidents, even rumors she hears from others, to your attention.
Also, you should be taking steps to protect yourself your dishonorable
co-workers. You don't know which ones they are, so protect yourself from
all. Every month, change your company voicemail password, private phone
voicemail password, company email password, personal email password,
computer log-on passwords. Don't worry about making them strong passwords.
Using the same password for all systems is ok and using a guessable password
is ok. Such as your first dog's name with the year of your high school
graduation. A strong password like WhEn12$bT66? is not best because you
will have to write it down. That makes it weaker than Rover1991. Using the
same password for everything is a weakness, but the advantage is that you
can easily change it every month. That's more important. How to change it
every month? Add the number of the month at the beginning, such as
7Rover1991. Or put the number of the month in the middle or at the end.
Finally, don't use your office phone for personal calls, don't use your
company email for personal correspondence, don't use your office computer
for your personal email accounts, don't keep personal stuff on your company
computer. These precautions would be unnecessary in a normal company, but
in yours, you need to protect yourself. Don't give the bad people any ammo
to use against you.
This answer must not be relied on as legal advice for the reasons posted
here: http://mcgyverdisclaimer.blogspot.com . And I am not your attorney.
McGyver
Bob
[snip]
How is that her "obligation?"
Bebe
> here: �http://mcgyverdisclaimer.blogspot.com. �And I am not your attorney.
>
> McGyver- Hide quoted text -
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Thank you so much. Your reply was very informative and told me exactly
what I needed to know. I appreciate that you took the time to share
your knowledge and advice as well as the tone it was given in.
Bebe
Bebe
Sicko -- unfortunately, his actions are either ignored, or sanctioned,
by tptb. He makes *his* cell phone calls from the far corner of the
parking lot, and lives rent-free in the house across the road, owned
by the company - supposedly to "keep an eye on things" at night.
This workplace has no reason for high security - that I am aware of.
There were a couple of video surveillance signs put up this year in
public areas, but it's well known that there many other hidden devices
throughout the buildings. I have personally seen the video feed from
some of these cameras. Thank you for your thoughtful response.