Colleague has read my emails without my permission

[bUU]

Originally Posted by Moby Hick

I thought the thread was done long ago, but people kept trying to make it about whatever was in their head as opposed to what was written.

You thought some things were written when instead they were just aspects that you assumed, though.

Originally Posted by Moby Hick

Well, then my point is that if you are giving out advice, it is foolish to restrict yourself to merely what is legally required when you are aware of other policies which are strongly encouraged by various incentives common to most businesses and general habits that IT people have developed.

Wait a minute. Didn't you just make a big production out of relying on what was written?

Can this be used against me if she actually printed it off on my day off?
Can this be used against me as she looged onto my account without my permission?

That's what was written. "Can this be used against the OP?" The answer was "yes". It could have been. That is, if you are sincere in your earlier claim of adherence to what was written.

You went beyond what was written, the question about "can this be used against the OP" and projected your impression of the likelihood about whether it would be used against the OP. Why do you think you're entitled to engage in discussion beyond what is written while others are not? ??? Very strange. You were correct in replying beyond just what was written, and so was everyone else.

Originally Posted by tnff

Hey guys, if you look back you'll the OP has come in to say the person who logged on as him was reprimanded.

Yup. And yet the discussion is much more than just about the OP's own experience. Many people read these threads to better understand things so that they're better prepared for situations that they, or people they care about, encounter. That's why OPs aren't provided the Close Thread button (which vBulletin, surely has, and which surely can be offered to OPs, if the forum chooses) - because these threads discuss matters that are of more general interest than just the OP's own circumstances.

Originally Posted by tnff

But good lesson learned on protecting your log in.

Absolutely, especially if it contains evidence that you're concerned may tend to be used against you for some reason.

[Moby Hick]

Originally Posted by bUU

You went beyond what was written, the question about "can this be used against the OP" and projected your impression of the likelihood about whether it would be used against the OP. Why do you think you're entitled to engage in discussion beyond what is written while others are not? ??? Very strange. You were correct in replying beyond just what was written, and so was everyone else.

I said nothing at all about whether what was in the email can be used against the OP.

I did go beyond the question the OP asked, but I did not go beyond the facts as the OP put them there.

[sskkc]

I'm really surprised at this outcome. Most surprised that the OP themselves weren't also reprimanded/suspended.

Anyone with half a brain knows you don't use the company email address for anything personal, and that you should always be aware that others can read it - IT, your supervisor, etc.

Even though I telecommute, I NEVER write email through the company server that I would not want my boss to read. I also am VERY careful with the IM service the other workers and I use, as it sometimes transcribes the IMs and puts them in my "SENT" folder, of the company email. Others are not so careful. I cringe when they complain about the job, talk about quitting or worse, complain about the boss - and when it's someone I like, I do damage control within the thread, "I think it's great that we can vent to each other. It's easy to get frustrated somedays, but I try to remember how great this company is, which is hard to do all the time"... things like that. My boss has never confronted anyone about those things directly, but once long ago, we were having a conversation and he referenced something a co worker said in one of those IMs - so I KNOW he reads them occasionally.

[Moby Hick]

Originally Posted by sskkc

Anyone with half a brain knows you don't use the company email address for anything personal, and that you should always be aware that others can read it - IT, your supervisor, etc.

See, this is what set me off before. First, the OP didn't say anything about a personal email. Just that the email was used to support a grievance.

Second, while you should be aware that IT and your supervisor can read your email, that's not what happened here according to the OP's story. It was a colleague getting access to her email, not a supervisor or IT or HR. I don't think that you can or should expect that your colleagues will read your emails. How you are supposed to function that way? There are many situations where I need to communicate things my colleagues are not supposed to know and things they need to communicate that I am not supposed to know. The same is true for almost every position with any degree of responsibility at all. Nobody but the very lowest level employee could operate reasonably if they can't say anything in an email that they don't want the whole company to know.

[jimj]

As a retired Network Engineer and Network Admin this whole story highlights why we always told users to at the very LEAST practice some basic level of security. Of course we were always looked at like harpies and over paranoid nerds who thought there were scary hackers and spies around every corner.

Hopefully the OP (and some others) will now understand about changing passwords occasionally, not letting someone shoulder surf you, never walk away from your screen without locking it or logging out and to never,ever,ever leave passwords written down anywhere at work unless it's in a safe that only you have access to.
Social engineering and plain laziness are a hacker's/thief's friend and best tool in the toolbox...

[bUU]

Originally Posted by Moby Hick

I said nothing at all about whether what was in the email can be used against the OP.

A statement that makes mystifying your decision to respond to my messages, which were specifically about whether what was in the email can be used against the OP.

Originally Posted by Moby Hick

I did not go beyond the facts as the OP put them there.

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree, at least with regard to your replies to my comments, in the context of my comments.

Originally Posted by sskkc

I'm really surprised at this outcome. Most surprised that the OP themselves weren't also reprimanded/suspended.

Not knowing what the original offense was, I'm unable to be surprised or not. Maybe the OP made an off-color joke as part of the email in question. As transgressive as that is, it pales by comparison to walking up to someone else's computer and accessing their email (assuming that's how things went down), and so I could see letting that relatively less serious transgression pass in the context of being wronged in a much more serious manner.

Originally Posted by sskkc

Anyone with half a brain knows you don't use the company email address for anything personal, and that you should always be aware that others can read it - IT, your supervisor, etc.

I don't think we have any reason to believe it was necessarily personal. For all we know it may have been a remark that disparages managerial decisions.

Originally Posted by sskkc

Even though I telecommute, I NEVER write email through the company server that I would not want my boss to read. I also am VERY careful with the IM service the other workers and I use, as it sometimes transcribes the IMs and puts them in my "SENT" folder, of the company email.

I've become very cautious, though not because I'm concerned about use of what I might write, but just due to BYOD concerns. Colleagues are bewildered that when we go to conferences together I won't give them my (personal) cellphone number, to coordinate meeting up between sessions to conduct business. If the company wants us to converse for business, they can issue us company phones. (I, of course, do provide my cellphone number to my personal friends, some of whom are co-workers, but there again I'm cautious to reply to any business-related use they make of my personal cellphone number with only a reply stating that we should converse about business via company email.)

[Moby Hick]

Originally Posted by bUU

A statement that makes mystifying your decision to respond to my messages, which were specifically about whether what was in the email can be used against the OP.

Look back. You started with me, not vice versa.

[bUU]

I'm glad we're in agreement then.