Your Voicemail Box May Have Ears
Technology has become so commonplace at work that we often take it for granted. But the legal ramifications of using it should be given some serious thought.
From voicemail to electronic mail to the Internet global computer network, employers have broad legal authority to monitor how their workers use technology on the job. Communications and transactions that are presumed to be private rarely are.
Luckily for workers, bosses usually don’t have the time or inclination to watch and wait for their employees to screw up, said Eugene Volokh, a UCLA law professor who specializes in online issues and conducts an online seminar called “Cyberspace Law for Nonlawyers.”
“Most employers have other things to do,” he said. “But if you send postings to newsgroups a lot and they find out, they could fire you for bad business judgment.”
To protect themselves, Volokh recommends, employees should emphasize that they are not speaking on behalf of their employers when they use a company-sponsored account to post e-mail messages to Internet discussion groups. But even if they use a disclaimer such as “Speaking only for myself,” employees can be punished by their bosses if their personal statements reflect poorly on the company, he said.
The rules for voicemail are the same, said Thomas J. Smedinghoff, head of the Information Technology Law Department at the Chicago law firm McBride Baker & Coles. Although you may think your voicemail box is private, your employer can listen in if the system is provided by the company.
Workers may also be surprised to learn that their employers can legally monitor their time spent on the World Wide Web while on the job. If those Web-surfing habits are deemed objectionable by management, employees can be dismissed, Volokh said.
If you are responsible for maintaining your company’s Web site, it is important that you keep it up to date. If prices for your goods and services are incorrect or outdated, you or your company could be punished for false advertising, Smedinghoff said.
The Web also introduces potential problems in the realm of copyright law. If your company’s site was created by an outside contractor, don’t assume you can use the content there for other purposes, such as a brochure or print advertisement. Since the creator holds the legal copyright for the material, special permission must be obtained for its reuse.
Workers should also be careful about using content or images they’ve downloaded from the Web. It’s all right to use them for personal things such as screen savers, but special permission must be granted before reprinting them for any commercial purpose.
Karen Kaplan covers technology and careers. She can be reached via e-mail at karen.kaplan@latimes.com
