Employlaw.com Privacy

Employlaw.com has NEVER used any means [sneaky or otherwise] to acquire information about visitors to our site.

Employlaw.com does NOT possess, subscribe to, nor use technology to identify you, your e-mail address or IP number.

Employlaw.com does NOT plant cookies on your computer.

Other than to respond to your e-mails, employlaw.com does NOT send ads, spam, nor solicitations. Of course, if you e-mail employlaw.com we will know your e-mail address. In that regard, employlaw.com does NOT keep your e-mail address for marketing, to sell to others, nor does employlaw.com publicize your e-mail address to others. Basically, to rip off that television commercial, your e-mail address communicated to employlaw.com stays at employlaw.com.

Warning: Despite employlaw.com not abusing your privacy, all e-mail travels throughout the Net before arriving to where you want it to go. So all e-mail, unless encrypted, is not truly private.

Although employlaw.com does not snoop or "steal" your information, any computer or terminal you use leaves a trail about where you have been. In other words, while employlaw.com does not "spy" on you, others may. A 2007 study revealed that a whopping 60% of U. S. employers [private and government] utilize software to monitor employee computer use, including websites visited and all e-mails sent or received.

Consider, for example, that for $59.95 [that's right, less than $60] ANYONE can 1) purchase tracking or spy software; 2) install it on your computer without you knowing about it; 3) have it run silently while you work; and 4) while you are away from your PC or remotely, review a record of ALL your computer activities including keystrokes, e-mails sent or received, websites visited, pictures viewed or ANYTHING you have done on a workplace computer.

In other words, your spouse, boyfriend, parent, mother-in-law, friend, colleague, nosey neighbor, employer, the government, or a malicious snoop can see what you have done on the computer for the entire day, week, or month. Whoever lawfully or maliciously installed the spy program can observe every computer key you pressed, the text of all e-mails you sent or received, a snapshot of all web pages you visited and all files you have uploaded [sent] or downloaded.

Here is an example of a spy program. It's just a picture and NOT a link. We used to have a link to the product page, but employlaw.com does not want you to click through to such sites. If you have an interest in this type of software, at your own risk you can use Google to search for a product that suits your needs. Bonus Tip: You should use Google or Dogpile to search for reviews of such products BEFORE making a purchase.

The image is to show you that snooping and spy software exists and that it is inexpensive. Employlaw.com does not endorse nor know anything about the named product. Just keep in mind that there are hundreds of low priced programs that can secretly tell the snooper everything about your computer use. Sidenote: How gutsy is it to name a snooping software program "Wiretap Professional." If one ever gets prosecuted for unlawful wiretapping, pity the fool on the stand when the prosecutor asks "And what was the name of the program you were using?" When you softly say "Wiretap Professional" you can just hear the District Attorney responding: "Huh?, what did you say, speak up, the jury can't hear you."

Remember, some spy programs can be set to take snapshots of what appears on your computer screen every second, every five minutes, or at whatever interval the user wants and then have the program silently transmit it to the "spy." Some programs on command can silently upload your computer activities to a sever [or the Net] where someone can then review the files when convenient. The more expensive the program, the more it can do.

All this "spying" or monitoring has got to be illegal, right?

Sorry, the answer is "NO!" U. S. APPEAL COURTS HAVE "APPROVED" AND RECOGNIZED EMPLOYERS OR GOVERNMENT AGENCIES "RIGHT" TO MONITOR EMPLOYEES' COMPUTER USE.*

Regardless if you are a corporate president or janitor the safest course of action is to NEVER use a company computer for personal business. Use company equipment for company business. In other words, comply with the company's rules of use. Assume that ANYTHING you do on a computer will at some time be accessed by someone, somewhere without you knowing about it.

To send personal and confidential e-mails use your home computer or a cyber cafe. Do NOT use company e-mail accounts for personal business. Do NOT use any device for personal business where someone may have access to the device [such as an employer-supplied notebook computer or Blackberry phone.] And while at work do NOT access online free mail accounts, such as Yahoo, Hot Mail, or G-Mail.

*How can this kind of "spying" be legal? In upholding or "approving" computer and net monitoring Courts have done so based on the following reasoning [that makes sense and is fair]:

1) It's the employer's equipment. The employer as owner of the equipment can set whatever rules it wants in regards to use of their equipment, including restrictions on using company computers for company business and not for private purposes;

2) While "on the clock" the employer is paying the employee to work on company business. The employer is free to monitor an employee's computer use to assure the employee is not, for example, spending time on eBay;

3) Absent a statute or law creating such, an employee does NOT have a right to privacy when using an employer's equipment. Simply put, there is no such thing as a constitutional right to surf the Net;

4) To enforce policies regarding use of company computers and equipment, an employer may use surreptitious [secretive] methods to monitor use of the employer's equipment; and

5) Some States say "snooping" is OK as long as the employer gives notice to the employee that it monitors employee computer use. Be warned, most States do NOT have this notice/warning requirement. Although not having an obligation to do so, some employers will warn employees that it monitors computer use [often times in the employee handbook or a memo.]

For those of you who say "I'm sure no one is spying on me" remember that 60 percent of employers monitor computer use. Nothing more needs to be said except that if we could get those kind of odds at the casino, we would all be sipping wine on our private jets heading out to our summer homes in the Bahamas.

Bonus Info: Here's some real life horror stories:

Horror Story 1) In California, two different Superior Court judges, in different Counties, were kicked off the bench for accessing pornographic websites on computers located inside their chambers. Both counties had rules prohibiting all employees [including judges] from accessing pornographic sites on government computers. If the Judges thought that their chambers were sacred, guess they thought wrong.

Horror Story 2) Recently a major corporation fired its CEO [who was paid millions in annual salary and bonuses.] The reason for termination: In violation of Company policy, the CEO was having a personal relationship with a junior employee. The evidence: e-mails sent and received from the CEO's and secretary's computer terminals. Also, the Company seized incriminating data on the CEO's Company supplied Blackberry phone.

Horror Story 3) This is a case we were asked to handle, but because it included criminal law matters, we declined. Anyway... a Silicon Valley employee quit rather than for work for a "jerk employer" [his words.] He felt it took guts to quit rather than be a "slave for a paycheck [again, his words.]

Soon after quitting he had a celebratory get-together with his wife and friends. They were all at his condo, eating microwave popcorn and watching a Netflix movie.

There was a bang on the door. It was the police. They arrested and transported the ex-employee to jail. Crime: The employee was mad at the company and decided to "show them" by stealing confidential company data [or trade secrets.] How he got caught: The employer had a cheap computer spy program installed on all employee computer terminals. The spy program proved to police investigators that the employee had transferred sensitive company information on to the memory of his Blackberry phone's MicroSD chip. Faced with electronic evidence, the ex-employee pled guilty. He received a two year prison sentence and had to pay a hefty fine.


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