Corporate Investigative Ethics

Kitsune · 07-23-2007, 04:44 PM

Imagine you work for a large company and it is discovered, one day, that there is evidence that inappropriate material is being browsed at your company desktop. This evidence comes from an automated system that keeps an eye on network traffic, mostly web requests and proxy traffic, and has detected this through keyword content matching or known URLs. A company investigator is sent to your desk while you are away to find and retrieve the system linked to the originating IP address.

When the company investigator arrives, they see the company desktop PC, but they also find your laptop that obviously isn't owned by the corporation: it is a different make and model from anything ordered, it has no property label, and the serial number matches nothing in inventory. Knowing this, the investigator confiscates both systems and returns to a lab where the hard drives on both systems are removed and the content is searched for any material that violates company policy. Regardless if anything is found or not:

Is the above situation legal?
Does the answer change if your laptop was visibly connected to the company network?
Is it legal if it is suspected that the end user is browsing illegal material or involved in illegal activities?

07-23-2007, 04:44 PM	#1
Kitsune still eats dirt Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Tampa, FL Posts: 3,031	Corporate Investigative Ethics Imagine you work for a large company and it is discovered, one day, that there is evidence that inappropriate material is being browsed at your company desktop. This evidence comes from an automated system that keeps an eye on network traffic, mostly web requests and proxy traffic, and has detected this through keyword content matching or known URLs. A company investigator is sent to your desk while you are away to find and retrieve the system linked to the originating IP address. When the company investigator arrives, they see the company desktop PC, but they also find your laptop that obviously isn't owned by the corporation: it is a different make and model from anything ordered, it has no property label, and the serial number matches nothing in inventory. Knowing this, the investigator confiscates both systems and returns to a lab where the hard drives on both systems are removed and the content is searched for any material that violates company policy. Regardless if anything is found or not: Is the above situation legal? Does the answer change if your laptop was visibly connected to the company network? Is it legal if it is suspected that the end user is browsing illegal material or involved in illegal activities?

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