It's obvious that the company has the "right" to access any information on their device but usually they will have a company policy in place which explains this. You should ask your company HR department for such policies.

5.0

I am actually in the IT department at my company. We create and sell software for the IBM System i. All our email etc comes through a mail server of course. Myself and the security officer and the IT manager have direct access to these machines and if we desired we could in fact read any email, incoming or outgoing on the system. As a practice this is not done. Only in the event of an issue would we invade privacy like that. We also have software installed that allows me to reach out and monitor any PC in the company. I can see the screens a person is on and the keystrokes they take etc. I can even remotely operate their machine without their permission. Again, we use this for trouble shooting and for problem resolution only.

From my perspective, as an IT person, I have a responsibility to maintain your privacy. I am not going to monitor you unless I have a reason. I am way too busy to look at all that data and sift through it to discover you wanted to look at some boobies at lunch time. I really could care less. What we watch for is severe abuse. A porn site that is hit three hundred times from a single IP in a day etc. Things that stand out.

I don't know how big your company is, but if they are interested in monitoring your activity and whereabouts through GPS on a regular basis.... Well, frankly I'd quit. Yes IT can see quite a lot. I have seen things on peoples machines as they come in for maintenance that I know they don't want me to see. I feel a responsibility to maintain that persons privacy however, and I would never repeat nor call a person on something like that unless there were other issues.

The ethical part of this question is a tough one to deal with. I simply don't look unless you give me a reason.

Just my two cents.

Thanks for the replies all!

Actually my my biggest concern is if someone can just be sitting at a desk somewhere and know where I am at all times because I have this thing. It's something that really doesn't set well with me.

Power it off...

^^ There you go!

5.0

If it's work issued and owned then yes, they are perfectly within their rights to do whatever they feel they need to. It's only your's on loan. It's basically the same as your work computer on your desk except it's mobile, which doesn't make it any more private.

As mentioned, nothing is private where work is concerned, so treat your device appropriately. You wouldn't visit and download dodgy sites and material on your work desk top pc, so you should with the iPad either.

If you're uncomfortable with this then refuse to have one (which will probably flag up questions in your boss's minds as to why you're paranoid about it). If my company were issuing me with an iPad i'd be well chuffed.

And don't worry about your private emails and info being scanned by the firm - companys are very reasonable and respect privacy if your all above board and they have no reason to suspect. Besides, our own ISP's know exaclt all our online movements, so whats the difference in essence?

Originally Posted by thewitt

Power it off...

So....if your ipad is off, it can't be tracked?


Oh. I knew that. Kinda.

Yes, but did you know that you've been bugged too? There's no escaping !!!

Originally Posted by sjleworthy

Yes, but did you know that you've been bugged too? There's no escaping !!!

Oh be quiet! lol!

This is an interesting issue...

I'm not talking about ocntent on the device but about the possibility of being tracked where ever you go. With the Find My Phone feature, you can see where is currently located your iDevice in almost realtime. This is cool for personal use, but what about corporate use?

Is it fair or moral that your employer can know where your are, implying what you do at any moment of the day (assuming that the iDevice is always active)? Truckers have such a device with them, in their truck. But that device won't track them outside their truck. But with an iDevice, if you bring it with you for "fair personal use", it means that they can know where you are outside of your business related activities.

Were you at home, in a motel, in a bar? So to avoid any issues, you should leave the iDevice at home or the office when you are not on duty. By personal use, maybe we should understand being able to surf the net, have some music and movies, etc... But the hardware part, the device itself should not be used in your personal life.

For example, you call in sick for the day, go see the doctor and on your way home, you stop at mall to get something... It could then be argue that you were not that sick cause they saw you were shopping in the morning.

- Yeah, but the drug store is in the mall...
- You were there for an hour and a half...
- I had to talk to the pharmacist, then I got some groceries items
- so, too sick to work, but okay to make your grocery list?
- just got a few items, and there was a lot of people, so it took longer than expected

Anyway, this is a bit of a strech, but you get the idea...

VicoPad addict!