A friend of mine works in IT and while repairing a company issued laptop found an entire folder of porn images.(conveniently hidden) Got me wondering if thats really an exception or do things like these really happen out there?
Besides committing crimes (pirating content, fraud, etc) and doing questionable things (such as accessing porn), I would refrain from creating anything using my work computer (such as a web app, mobile app, blog). It is very common for companies to add clauses that says that anything you produce using their equipment is their IP.
Check your local laws too. In CA it doesn’t matter if they have a clause, they can claim ownership of your IP if you use company time or resources (including a company machine).
That said it’s a reasonable policy and easy to make a clean break. Some jurisdictions will let companies claim anything you developed during your term of employment.
Having done IT, I'd say it's fairly common. If the company does not have strict rules about personal use of systems, I generally ignored it ("Oh sorry, wrong folder" if the user was looking over my shoulder).
In my current company we specifically ask users not to store pornographic images on their work systems so we can all be spared the embarrassment, so far that seems to work well.
Personally I try not to use work systems for anything non-work related. Why risk it? hardware is cheap.
I've heard lots of stories about work computers full of porn, even in the government.
It's definitely a very bad idea, but I don't think it's that uncommon. Usually these people eventually get in trouble for it, but it might take a while (esp. in the government).
>I used to do this, but security isn't really good enough, and it's not a great idea to tempt break ins.
The company is responsible for the security of their hardware and anything else provided to employees to use in the course of their work and should not be off-loading this onto their employees, implicitly or explicitly.
If your house got burgled and the company laptop stolen, would you feel responsible for replacing it (or having your insurance do so) for having taken it from the premises under the guise that their security was insufficient?
It's a gray area IMO, similar to, say, a bus driver whose bus is stolen. The employee has to maintain some reasonable security approaches and the company should as well.
If the employee takes good care, then the company should replace it if there's a loss.
My company has CCTVs, guards, digital and analog door locks, but a MBP is still more expensive than a gold ingot, and my house is still a little more secure.
I go as far as avoiding personal email, Facebook, WhatsApp, assuming that the device can be taken back any time. But this is difficult as an app developer, where logins often use personal accounts.
