Use of Company Commuication Property for Peronal Use: Workers privacy to be defined by Supreme Court

Generally employees know that they should not use company property for personal use unless permitted by their organization. The majority of the time --as seen by the statistics to the right-- this is made clear by a companies terms of use police. Years ago when the lines between work and personal life were clear this was very simple to do. Today that line is blurred as many work form home or travel work and take advantage of technological advances (laptops, email, and internet enabled mobile phones). Given these advances and a recession, employees are working harder and longer hours with many battling to maintain a work life balance. The result of which often has employees attempting to save time by utilizing company equipment to address personal matters via a phones voice, text, and email capabilities.

In this day in age it is pretty well known that company email should be used for business use, as it is not 'private'. While this is known, 79% of employees admit to utilizing work email for personal use. “Employers have both a right and a responsibility to ensure that e-mail is used for the good of the organization and is not used in an unlawful or damaging way,” says Mark Levitt, a retired attorney and vice president of collaborative computing and the enterprise workplace at IDC, the research firm in Framingham, Mass. To address the issue many companies monitor employees emails - please refer to the figure to the figure to the left for stats.

When it comes to the debate over privacy, Levitt says an employer's owns the e-mail systems -- which includes the software, network access, computers, and so forth. Therefore, the company has the legal right to oversee how its systems are being used or abused. In one sense, e-mail monitoring is a way to protect the organization’s confidential business information. “Employers need to know if employees are sending e-mails to competitors containing confidential information about product designs or strategies,” says Levitt.

Many organizations allow associates to pay a portion of a bill to make it their personal phone. In these cases employees will use this for personal use after reaching an agreement. While this is convenient for the individual, what does this mean for their own privacy? In a world where work life and personal life are in a state of imbalance, it is my belief that is best to keep it separate. Deloitte Consulting for example allows employees to pay for personal use of company iPhones. In a recent study 45% of business iPhone users use it over 3/4 of the time for personal use. While the iPhone is marketed and utilized more as a social device than the blackberry for instance, the poll reinforces the personal use of business devices. Regardless, labor experts say personal information on a company device is subject to monitoring Yet for those who opt in to the cost saving measure to avoid looking like a drug dealer, the debate over their personal privacy is more complicated as seen in the case below.

In other news,

"The future of employee privacy rights in the workplace may hinge on a case that the U.S. Supreme Court is taking up involving a cop and sexting.

Jeff Quon, a California SWAT sergeant, was given a pager from his employer, the Ontario Police Department. He was later found to have used the device not only for work but also for pleasure, often sending sexually explicit text messages to his wife and his mistress.

Quon’s employer found out about his personal use of the pager after an investigation looking into excessive texting at the department.

uon cried foul, saying he thought the messages were confidential.

As a result, Quon; his wife Jerilyn, who is also a police officer; his mistress, April Florio, who is a department dispatcher; and another sergeant, Steve Trujillo; sued the department, the city of Ontario, and the paging service company, Arch Wireless Operating Company, for violating their privacy rights.

A lower court decided in the employees’ favor in 2008; the defendants appealed. Now the highest court in the land has decided to hear the case, and privacy advocates and labor law experts are waiting to see how the court will decide.

“This could be a game changer when it comes to monitoring by employers and electronic privacy for employees,” said Nancy Flynn, executive director for The ePolicy Institute and author of “The e-Policy Handbook.”"

this last bit below is brought to you by Eve Tahmincioglu, msnbc.com contributor.

Statistics

While we all know that sexting is frequent in our society, I ran into some in-depth statistics that are shed more light on the subject.


The following is from The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. The full refer to pages one to four of the full study entitled 'Sex Tech' for more information on the statistics

The percent of teenagers who have sent or posted nude or semi-nude pictures or video of themselves:

• 20% of teenagers overall
• 22% of teen girls
• 18% of teen boys
• 11% of teen girls ages 13-16

The percent of teenagers sending or posting sexually suggestive messages:

• 39% of all teenagers
• 37% of teen girls
• 40% of teen boys

• 15% of teenagers who have sent or posted nude or seminude images of themselves say they have done so to someone they only knew online.

• 48% of teenagers say they have received such messages.

• 71% of teen girls and 67% of teen guys who have sent or posted sexually suggestive content say they have sent or posted this content to a boyfriend or girlfriend.

• 21% of teenage girls and 39% of teen boys say they have sent such content to someone they wanted to date or hook up with.

• 44% of both teen girls and teen boys say it is common for sexually suggestive text messages to get shared with people other than the intended recipient.

• 36% of teen girls and 39 % of teen boys say it is common for nude or semi-nude photos to get shared with people other than the intended recipient.

• 51%of teen girls say pressure from a guy is a reason girls send sexy messages or images;
only 18% of teen boys cited pressure from female counterparts as a reason.

• 66% of teen girls and 60% of teen boys say they did so to be “fun or flirtatious”; their most common reason for sending sexy content.

• 52% of teenage girls used sexting as a “sexy present” for their boyfriend.

• 44% of both teen girls and teen boys say they sent sexually suggestive messages or images in response to such content they received.

• 40% of teenage girls said they sent sexually suggestive messages or images as “a joke.”

• 34% of teen girls say they sent or posted sexually suggestive content to “feel sexy.”

• 12% of teen girls felt “pressured” to send sexually suggestive messages or images.

Technology Giant's Sexting Stance: Apple Agaisnt & Microsoft Pro

Awhile back I had posted regarding Apple's removal of sex related apps on the iPhone. This major move established a stance and it seems that their top competitor may not take the topic as seriously.

Microsoft recent ad for it social media phone the Kin which has a male teen taking a picture under his shirt and sending it to someone. Writing for Consumer Reports' electronics blog, Mike Gikas observes that Microsoft's video "comes uncomfortably close to advocating sexting."

While sex has been a common theme in advertising for years some see this acquisition as a little far-fetched. While this add would clearly not be Apple's without it's clean white background, some believe if it was would be viewed as edgy not offensive.

See the ad for yourself Microsoft has responded by snipping out the short portion of the ad on the Kin website.

New Arizona Law Makes Sexting = Shoplifting

Last month the Arizona House passed a bill that makes minors sending or possessing sexts to another minor a class two misdemeanor. Those in support say this is an important move as the law is the first in the state specific to the crime. Prior to this law the only thing applicable to prosecute on would be a general child pornography charge. Sending explicit pictures between two adults remains legal under the new law.

Chris Segrin, UA department head of communication and psychology professor says that the consequences when caught sexting underage are similar to that shoplifting. Court can even be avoided if an underage naughty texter goes through minor participates in a 90-day diversion program, which can include counseling, community service or life-skills training.

Segrin says, “Only about 10 percent of the people that do it end up getting caught doing it, and these are minors." While it is certain that the new law will increase the amount of prosecutions towards these types of cases, it is unlikely that it will reduce the amount that teens partake in the activity.