i have a friend that works in ????? firm (i dont want to give it up), he is a some sort of network supervisor and he has access to all firm servers, and since it is a big firm it has a whole bunch of servers and he says that he is invisible for everyone.
and i quote him:
"some servers use ++IIII and other use ++PP++II modes"
does this means that all big networks like Undernet, Quakenet, Dalnet, EFnet, PTnet etc... have spies that normal Admins are not aware of ?
Of course not, it's not law to spy on your users and/or staff, they probably could if they wanted to, but it doesn't mean they do.
Network engineers can log and view such logs of network activity within the bounds of the privacy laws in a given country. In my country, such activity is only legal if the people provided with access are specifically told that it is possible and that it takes place at their place of employment and that disciplinary action can be taken if a company policy is repeatedly ignored. Reading employee email here however is illegal due to privacy laws. Some MIS employees probably still do it anyway though risk heavy fines and imprisonment if they are caught. This restriction doesn't necessarily apply everywhere though.
As for IRC networks, this is a different kettle of fish. IRC is a free service and there is generally an owner of the hardware and software. The owner can do what ever he likes, once again within the law. There is nothing stopping the owner of a server tracing movements or conversations if the software used allows such functionality, but once again in some countries the owner of the server would be obliged to warn chatters that this is possible.
It is not illegal for companies to read employee emails and whatnot. They do not require a warrant to search drives and retrieve the documents if they believe a law has been breached. It is common practice that employees are warned that email and internet usage is logged and even emails which are deleted on workstations can still be retrieved for future investigation.
Email (unlike postal "snail" mail) is public property. Yes, it is illegal for someone at the post office to open your envelope and check out all the goodies inside, but it isn't illegal for your ISP to do the same thing with your email. Maybe that law will be changed in the future, maybe it won't.
Remember, public property. I do not have the right to gain access to protected servers by passing security procedures (user/password) and such activities. But otherwise all email that flows through Australia (and many other countries) are not governed by the same laws as regular mail.
In the UK, email just like everything else is protected by the Data Protection Act ('98), and no-one (except law agencies) are suppose to view your information, with warrents and whatnot.
This is also the one of the reasons no-one within the UK is (so far) never sued for using peer-to-peer or other software to download copyrighted media.
Does'nt Aussie have the DPA ?
Eamonn.
We do, but it doesn't go to the extent of the UK law.
Unlike items of personal property that you keep in a desk drawer or locker, electronic messages you send or receive at work are not legally considered to be your personal property. Therefore an employer who owns the server or personal computer on which your email is stored is entitled to look at or copy it. Many employers reserve the right to check e-mail as a precaution against fraud, workplace harassment or breaches of confidence by employees.
Nasty?
If you let me use your computer to do "things", then would you consider that you had the right to check what I had done? After all, you would'nt like it if I had downloaded something illegal (or left any "surprises") on your machine. especially if you could be held legally liable.
This is the concept under Australian law. There is the proviso that the employee must be warned that checking may occur - in the organisation I work for there is a notice every time I log in. The organisation also has a "reasonable use" policy - so there is some scope for what may be considered personal use (within well defined limits).
The bottom line is, the work computer is there to do work - if you want to do personal stuff, then you really should use your personal computer!
Cheers,
DK
Exactly. Anything you do work-related concerns your employers so they have the right to check everything you're doing anyway.
If you want to do personal things like send joke emails and whatnot, send them to every single member of the workplace, and get them to send some back. Then if they're gonna "crack down" on personal usage they'd need to fire everyone. And I don't think that will be happening muHAHAHaHAhaAa