8 ms·

Anything you do on work hardware, it the US is pretty much free range for them to snoop into as much as they want. Putting that kind of stuff on your work lapt

Anything you do on work hardware, it the US is pretty much free range for them to snoop into as much as they want. Putting that kind of stuff on your work laptop is just unthinkably weird to me. Why would anyone do that?

kelnos 4y ago
Because most people don't actually care all that much about privacy, at least when the consequences aren't immediately obvious. Sure, if you flat-out ask someone if they'd be comfortable posting their bank statements on Facebook, they'd say no, of course not. But even if people know that their employer can snoop on the contents of their work laptop (I imagine some people don't realize), it's a hypothetical threat. And often people have some sort of implicit trust in their employer, anyway, for some strange reason. In my experience, most people put personal things on their work laptop, and don't think twice about it. Unfortunately you're actually the "weird" one, even though I totally agree with you.
- jenscow 4y ago
  And it's not just "employer" you need to trust - it's the people in the IT department who can snoop.
Raed667 4y ago
I guess my rule of thumb is "Am I ok with HR seeing this?", this is more about access (tax papers, paystubs, bank statements, ...) than privacy.
- Symbiote 4y ago
  For many people, HR have access to this already — they know how much I'm paid and where I live, my next of kin, etc.
francisofascii 4y ago
> Why would anyone do that? Because of convenience. It is an easy mistake to make. If you have to print something like a rent agreement, do you use your office printer or go through the hassle of sending it to FedEx to print? Also, when you have home office setups configured for your work, it can be a pain to switch everything to your personal laptop, if you even have one.
teeray 4y ago
From a sustainability perspective, it’s regrettable that regulations are so fixated on the physical machine. It would be entirely possible to logically segment a work environment from a personal environment on a machine without one’s processes spilling over into the other’s. But nope, we all lug two laptops and two phones (if you use iOS).
- worewood 4y ago
  Samsung does it with Knox and it works perfectly. If the company wants they can wipe out the Knox environment but my personal files and apps are completely separate. Even the company VPN works just inside the Knox environment.
deathanatos 4y ago
There have been a number of times in my career where HR emailed personal material (e.g., legal agreements, tax documents, etc.) to my work email, effectively forcing me to exfil my own personal data off the work laptop to the personal laptop. In HR's mind, it's a company document, because it pertains to an employee. But to me, it needs to persist beyond my employement, e.g., because the company wants me to honor the terms of the agreement, or because law requires it. One of these times was during a layoff that I was a part of. (But also, people are lazy, and personal stuff ends up on work machines.)
kevstev 4y ago
Mostly because we generally work during the same business hours other people are? If you ever have to deal with an insurance issue, sign a lease, take out or refinance a mortgage, buy a car... etc... its probable that you will have to print something out at the office, sign it, scan it and send it back to someone- and now its essentially open for the company to read. Even if you aren't downloading and printing something, even logging into a website is more or less the same thing for a determined snooper. Sometimes its just a matter of convenience, but it can add an irritating delay or worse. I try to avoid it as much as possible, but its unavoidable in at least some cases. I am not going to take a day off of work just because I have to call about a billing issue and need to login to my account to give the details to a service representative.
- kadoban 4y ago
  For me, I can do 99.9% of things on my phone. I can't remember the last time I had to actually print something. I guess my experience must not match others', fair enough.
  - reaperducer 4y ago
    I guess my experience must not match others', fair enough At least you can admit it. Things I've needed a printer for in recent months, off the top of my head: - Filing a reimbursement claim for going to an out-of-network healthcare provider. - Filing a reimbursement claim for contact lenses. - Filing legal paperwork with the county clerk. - Getting a certified death certificate. - Passport renewal. - Change of address without paying a fee. - Letter to the local postmaster. - Paperwork for claiming an inheritance through a probate court. - Printing a shipping label. - Filing a zoning application. - Life insurance forms. The more you adult, the more you discover that you still need paper.

kelnos 4y ago

Because most people don't actually care all that much about privacy, at least when the consequences aren't immediately obvious. Sure, if you flat-out ask someone if they'd be comfortable posting their bank statements on Facebook, they'd say no, of course not. But even if people know that their employer can snoop on the contents of their work laptop (I imagine some people don't realize), it's a hypothetical threat. And often people have some sort of implicit trust in their employer, anyway, for some strange reason. In my experience, most people put personal things on their work laptop, and don't think twice about it. Unfortunately you're actually the "weird" one, even though I totally agree with you.

jenscow 4y ago
And it's not just "employer" you need to trust - it's the people in the IT department who can snoop.

Raed667 4y ago

I guess my rule of thumb is "Am I ok with HR seeing this?", this is more about access (tax papers, paystubs, bank statements, ...) than privacy.

Symbiote 4y ago
For many people, HR have access to this already — they know how much I'm paid and where I live, my next of kin, etc.

francisofascii 4y ago

> Why would anyone do that? Because of convenience. It is an easy mistake to make. If you have to print something like a rent agreement, do you use your office printer or go through the hassle of sending it to FedEx to print? Also, when you have home office setups configured for your work, it can be a pain to switch everything to your personal laptop, if you even have one.

teeray 4y ago

From a sustainability perspective, it’s regrettable that regulations are so fixated on the physical machine. It would be entirely possible to logically segment a work environment from a personal environment on a machine without one’s processes spilling over into the other’s. But nope, we all lug two laptops and two phones (if you use iOS).

worewood 4y ago
Samsung does it with Knox and it works perfectly. If the company wants they can wipe out the Knox environment but my personal files and apps are completely separate. Even the company VPN works just inside the Knox environment.

deathanatos 4y ago

There have been a number of times in my career where HR emailed personal material (e.g., legal agreements, tax documents, etc.) to my work email, effectively forcing me to exfil my own personal data off the work laptop to the personal laptop. In HR's mind, it's a company document, because it pertains to an employee. But to me, it needs to persist beyond my employement, e.g., because the company wants me to honor the terms of the agreement, or because law requires it. One of these times was during a layoff that I was a part of. (But also, people are lazy, and personal stuff ends up on work machines.)

kevstev 4y ago

Mostly because we generally work during the same business hours other people are? If you ever have to deal with an insurance issue, sign a lease, take out or refinance a mortgage, buy a car... etc... its probable that you will have to print something out at the office, sign it, scan it and send it back to someone- and now its essentially open for the company to read. Even if you aren't downloading and printing something, even logging into a website is more or less the same thing for a determined snooper. Sometimes its just a matter of convenience, but it can add an irritating delay or worse. I try to avoid it as much as possible, but its unavoidable in at least some cases. I am not going to take a day off of work just because I have to call about a billing issue and need to login to my account to give the details to a service representative.

kadoban 4y ago
For me, I can do 99.9% of things on my phone. I can't remember the last time I had to actually print something. I guess my experience must not match others', fair enough.
- reaperducer 4y ago
  I guess my experience must not match others', fair enough At least you can admit it. Things I've needed a printer for in recent months, off the top of my head: - Filing a reimbursement claim for going to an out-of-network healthcare provider. - Filing a reimbursement claim for contact lenses. - Filing legal paperwork with the county clerk. - Getting a certified death certificate. - Passport renewal. - Change of address without paying a fee. - Letter to the local postmaster. - Paperwork for claiming an inheritance through a probate court. - Printing a shipping label. - Filing a zoning application. - Life insurance forms. The more you adult, the more you discover that you still need paper.