[GolferV]

Newbie here ... hopefully this is the best forum for this post.

I am wondering if I have a confidentiality problem with our IT manager but I don't want to jump to a rash conclusion.

A friend sent me an email which I received normally. 10 minutes later, he forwarded a second message - a notice he received that this same message could not be delivered to an email at a different domain - an outside domain which happens to be owned by our IT manager (the email address to which the message couldn't be delivered was his initials at a domain he owns). I was very surprised but also had been sensitized, as another person in the company had previously insisted the IT manager was reading her email.

When I asked the IT manager about it over the phone, he said he's investigate and never mentioned it again. When I emailed the notice to him asking for an explanation, he never responded.

Is there any plausible reason that my personal email would ever be routed to a different email/domain outside of our company?

Could he have some legitimate reason for doing this?

Is the bounce message sufficient justification for me to confront the employee? Or even terminate?

Thanks for perspective,

GolferV

[SirCyber]

if you are using a company computer, and a company email, then there is nothing you can do. he doesn't need a reason. those are owned by the company and can be filtered/monitored or even restricted by the company. this is a touchy area within IT, but if those are the cases, then he's within his bounds. if it's a PERSONAL email from another PERSONAL account, still being used on company computers, this kinda gets grey and I'd say you could make a case to try doing something about it, but still yet, you are using company property and anything you view could be construed to belonging to the company. if it's that case BUT your own computer, he should not have any access at all whatsoever to those emails

[Lexluethar]

A lot of IT managers and companies monitor emails. If you are using your work email/domain for personal use your IT department has every right to read those emails. I know it sounds weird, but it is true. I realize that there will be a lot of people on here that says they can't do this, but it isn't against the law, and as long as you are using their emails and their computers, they can snoop/spy/read emails all they want. The law is on their side with this, and in all reality work is for work, and home is for home. I know sounds childish and stupid, but that is how it works in the eyes of the law.

Yes he could very well be reading the emails that are send from your computer, and if they use a specific type of email server (there are three types and i can't remember all three) but one downloads the email to your computer and deletes it off the server, another downloads the email to your computer and doesn't delete it off the server (which is what a lot of companies do for security / monitoring), and the other gives you the option...

Anyways, point is they can and probably are reading your emails - so be careful what you say and do at work. I can see what websites my coworkers use, and how often they use it by loging into our Cisco router. Big brother is watching!

[superdave1984]

Sounds like a sensitive situation to say the least. Yes, by using company computers anything you do on it is company property. Even personal emails. If you write a song during your lunch break and type it up in Word, print it and it sells, the company legally has a share of the money coming. Now if you bring in your laptop and connect using the company network and access the internet and send/receive emails, then you have a legit case for being snooped on. Although the company can come back and say you used their internet connection etc. Personally I have not got the time to read other people's email. I have enough crap to do now. And an IT manager that is reading emails either is
A: nosy jerk
B: suspicious of malicious activity and being cautious
or C: been told to do so by someone higher up the ladder.
As Lex said, watch what you put in an email, blog or forum post. It's ALL being monitored if you are on company time (or could be).

[GolferV]

Guys - thanks for the responses. It sounds like I really can't take action against him based upon this alone. Got it.

So I take it there is no legit reason for him forwarding stuff - like making sure the server is OK or the firewall or some other fake reason?

FYI - we have a company policy regarding privacy. I'll never catch him doing it, but this certainly undermines the concept of trust. We'll have to figure out appropriate action, if any.

THanks -

[Mak213]

Hello Golfer,

There are plenty of legit reasons. He is monitoring what you people are doing at work with your time. Having personal emails sent to you while at work is not good practice. Have them sent to your private home email and check them when you are not working.

The company has every right to have emails forwarded to another email account and they have every right not to answer any questions about it. You should be asking yourself why they havent asked you why you are recieving personal emails when you are at work getting paid to do a job but you are taking care of personal matters instead.

I am sure you have a company policy regarding privacy. But you also probably have a company policy that states that you take care of personal matters on your own time and not company time. Getting personal emails at work would void that policy and allow them to void the privacy policy just the same.

Your best course of action. Stop getting personal emails at work. They are personal. Your at work. Leave the 2 seperate.

Cheers,
Mak

[GolferV]

Actually, I should clarify. It was my business email, but a personal message ... but nothing sensitive. However there was some company business ... just not much.

I agree with the company propery angle, but his *use* in not on behalf of the company. Therefore any use of this information would be bound by his confidentiality agreement, right? Another violation.

[strjms72]

The company must have a confidentiality policy in their employment contract, which gives the company the right to monitor everything that you are doing on the computer in order to make sure the confidentiality agreement is not broken by you. An IT manager has a lot of things to do, so it's unlikely that he reads your emails for his own purposes, which to be honest I fail to see what exactly they might be. So he is certainly being told to do so, the main reason in a company is the confidentiality

[Mak213]

Originally Posted by GolferV

Actually, I should clarify. It was my business email, but a personal message ... but nothing sensitive. However there was some company business ... just not much.

I agree with the company propery angle, but his *use* in not on behalf of the company. Therefore any use of this information would be bound by his confidentiality agreement, right? Another violation.

Hello,

How do you know what his use is? How do you know what his intent is? You are just guessing at what he is doing with the emails. You have no proof that he is using them against you. Nor do you have proof that he reads tehm at all. Being forwarded doesnt justify being read. I recieve upwards of 200-300 emails a day. I do not read them all. I click on them and glance at them for content but i do not fullr read them unless they need to be.

Only if outside of work he uses any of this information against you would it violate any of your rights. Plus not knowing the company or the condifentality agreement there is no way to say for sure that he broke it in any way.

You are jsut guessing that these actions of his are his own doing. But what if it was the company that told him to do so? So they can monitor what type and kind of emails you are recieving. The only thing you know is that it went to a domain that you said he owns. But did he buys it with his own money or was it funded by the company? IS it his personal website or is it something that he users for company purposes.

All you have is speculation. You have a bounce back email reciept from somone who said that they got that notice. I can generate one of those in 30 seconds with just about any domain or anything else you want it to say.

Without read hard proof all you got is your word over his.

Cheers,
Mak