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All my stuff is backed up off my phone anyway, so I would only be mildly annoyed if my employer wiped it. I'm glad they have the capability, because otherwise t

All my stuff is backed up off my phone anyway, so I would only be mildly annoyed if my employer wiped it. I'm glad they have the capability, because otherwise they'd require me to carry a separate work phone, which would be super annoying. As to the ethical question, under some ethical systems, voluntary agreements without coercion are by-default ethical. My employer doesn't force me to install a work profile. They're happy to supply me with a separate phone if need be. But I voluntarily take on that risk for the convenience.

rorykoehler 7y ago
You are glad your employer has deep access into your personal phone?
- asdfasgasdgasdg 7y ago
  Yes, that is indeed what I said. I even explained the tradeoffs and why they are acceptable to me. Was something unclear?
  - rorykoehler 7y ago
    I'm just trying to understand the world we live in. Your position is the opposite of mine. It's so far the opposite that I had trouble believing what I was reading but it's valid so sorry if you to feel like my question was a personal attack.
    - solipsism 7y ago
      I have trouble understanding why people get so worked up about it. I don't know what you people use your phones for, but all of my activities are incredibly boring. And the idea that my personal activity or data would be worth the effort to my employer, enough that they actually implement whatever they'd have to implement to snoop on me, is laughable. I also don't freak out if there's a window open in my bedroom when I'm changing. The chances are small anyone wants to take a peek, and if they do it's not much skin off my back. So, maybe there are just different kinds of people? The kind that irrationally think everyone is interested in snooping on them, and the kind who have more important things to worry about.
      - rorykoehler 7y ago
        Go ask the ceo of your company for unfettered access to his personal phone and see what he says.
raxxorrax 7y ago
Really? A second phone is awesome. Pretty big fan of compartmentalization of business/private, even if i am not a heavy phone user and not prone to change employers much. But I do have my own phone anyway. We even have a separate wireless network for private devices and guests that is not subjected to any filtering or security screening. All that is really worth having 2 devices in my opinion. There are also a lot of security benefits if work phones are only used for specific tasks and are locked down as much as possible.
- izacus 7y ago
  Android supports clear isolation between work and personal profiles, so you don't need to lug around two phones just so you can have your separation. Unfortunately it seems that said people used iOS which doesn't allow that.
- asdfasgasdgasdg 7y ago
  I guess I just don't see much downside to putting both on the same device. I have trouble picturing a situation where I'm significantly worse off because of the path I've chosen compared to having two devices. The 99% worst case scenario is something like what happened to the person who was fired: my phone gets wiped when I didn't want it to be. Ah, well. With Android's backup capabilities, it takes me about an hour to be back to normal from a completely wiped device. I've wiped my device voluntarily just to give it unlocked to a repair person. It would not be that much worse to have to recover it involuntarily. The 99.9999% worst case scenario is that my employer is monitoring my private communications for some sinister reason, but I consider that pretty unlikely. I just can't see a way that would benefit them, and I'm not sure they even have the capability in the first place -- compartmentalization is what work profiles are for. On the other hand, having to manage two devices would be a daily tax. So, yeah, I'm happy with my choice, but I'm happy to accept more information if you have other things I've not thought of.
  - saiya-jin 7y ago
    Imagine having time off from work, leaving your work phone off/at home, but still able to check online topo maps/restaurants/flights/weather/connect with people with your normal phone. It can be annoying, or not. Depends a lot on personality, type of work, boss etc.
throwaway_tech 7y ago
>I'm glad they have the capability, because otherwise they'd require me to carry a separate work phone, which would be super annoying. A lot of people have a phone for work separate from their personal phone...Still, there is a perfectly reasonable middle ground, Google could have requested the employee backup the phone before wiping it since they knew or had reason to know there was personal data on the phone.
saalweachter 7y ago
I gave up on having my work accounts on my phone. I just don't check work emails or messages on the weekend or at lunch. If anything actually urgent comes up, they have my phone number and can call or text me. This was mostly out of laziness; I have relatively low patience for doing lots of fiddly configuration on a new device, and don't like the bother of setting up a second account on my phone whenever I get a new one. The only real downside is when I go to a meeting, forget which room I was going to, and need to get out a laptop or go back to my desk to figure out where I was going. But it's done wonders for my work-life balance and just not thinking about my job when I'm not actually working.
- m-p-3 7y ago
  I use a workspace/sandbox for my work app on a personal device, and it works quite well. The only feature I wish was available would be to schedule access to the sandbox, for example turning it off after my work hours, and turning it back on in the morning. That would reduce the amount of notifications I get from work after-hours. I still don't check them, but having them out of sight would be nice.

rorykoehler 7y ago

You are glad your employer has deep access into your personal phone?

asdfasgasdgasdg 7y ago
Yes, that is indeed what I said. I even explained the tradeoffs and why they are acceptable to me. Was something unclear?
- rorykoehler 7y ago
  I'm just trying to understand the world we live in. Your position is the opposite of mine. It's so far the opposite that I had trouble believing what I was reading but it's valid so sorry if you to feel like my question was a personal attack.
  - solipsism 7y ago
    I have trouble understanding why people get so worked up about it. I don't know what you people use your phones for, but all of my activities are incredibly boring. And the idea that my personal activity or data would be worth the effort to my employer, enough that they actually implement whatever they'd have to implement to snoop on me, is laughable. I also don't freak out if there's a window open in my bedroom when I'm changing. The chances are small anyone wants to take a peek, and if they do it's not much skin off my back. So, maybe there are just different kinds of people? The kind that irrationally think everyone is interested in snooping on them, and the kind who have more important things to worry about.
    - rorykoehler 7y ago
      Go ask the ceo of your company for unfettered access to his personal phone and see what he says.

raxxorrax 7y ago

Really? A second phone is awesome. Pretty big fan of compartmentalization of business/private, even if i am not a heavy phone user and not prone to change employers much. But I do have my own phone anyway. We even have a separate wireless network for private devices and guests that is not subjected to any filtering or security screening. All that is really worth having 2 devices in my opinion. There are also a lot of security benefits if work phones are only used for specific tasks and are locked down as much as possible.

izacus 7y ago
Android supports clear isolation between work and personal profiles, so you don't need to lug around two phones just so you can have your separation. Unfortunately it seems that said people used iOS which doesn't allow that.
asdfasgasdgasdg 7y ago
I guess I just don't see much downside to putting both on the same device. I have trouble picturing a situation where I'm significantly worse off because of the path I've chosen compared to having two devices. The 99% worst case scenario is something like what happened to the person who was fired: my phone gets wiped when I didn't want it to be. Ah, well. With Android's backup capabilities, it takes me about an hour to be back to normal from a completely wiped device. I've wiped my device voluntarily just to give it unlocked to a repair person. It would not be that much worse to have to recover it involuntarily. The 99.9999% worst case scenario is that my employer is monitoring my private communications for some sinister reason, but I consider that pretty unlikely. I just can't see a way that would benefit them, and I'm not sure they even have the capability in the first place -- compartmentalization is what work profiles are for. On the other hand, having to manage two devices would be a daily tax. So, yeah, I'm happy with my choice, but I'm happy to accept more information if you have other things I've not thought of.
- saiya-jin 7y ago
  Imagine having time off from work, leaving your work phone off/at home, but still able to check online topo maps/restaurants/flights/weather/connect with people with your normal phone. It can be annoying, or not. Depends a lot on personality, type of work, boss etc.

throwaway_tech 7y ago

>I'm glad they have the capability, because otherwise they'd require me to carry a separate work phone, which would be super annoying. A lot of people have a phone for work separate from their personal phone...Still, there is a perfectly reasonable middle ground, Google could have requested the employee backup the phone before wiping it since they knew or had reason to know there was personal data on the phone.

saalweachter 7y ago

I gave up on having my work accounts on my phone. I just don't check work emails or messages on the weekend or at lunch. If anything actually urgent comes up, they have my phone number and can call or text me. This was mostly out of laziness; I have relatively low patience for doing lots of fiddly configuration on a new device, and don't like the bother of setting up a second account on my phone whenever I get a new one. The only real downside is when I go to a meeting, forget which room I was going to, and need to get out a laptop or go back to my desk to figure out where I was going. But it's done wonders for my work-life balance and just not thinking about my job when I'm not actually working.

m-p-3 7y ago
I use a workspace/sandbox for my work app on a personal device, and it works quite well. The only feature I wish was available would be to schedule access to the sandbox, for example turning it off after my work hours, and turning it back on in the morning. That would reduce the amount of notifications I get from work after-hours. I still don't check them, but having them out of sight would be nice.