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From: ewm@mdavcr.UUCP (Eric W. Mitchell)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: Re: computer security
Message-ID: <1079@mdavcr.UUCP>
Date: 28 Nov 90 02:24:57 GMT
References: <1990Nov20.221333.4619@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> <36124@cup.portal.com> <1990Nov21.190134.19749@uncecs.edu>
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Organization: MacDonald Dettwiler, 13800 Commerce Parkway, Richmond, BC, Canada  V6V 2J3
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In article <1990Nov21.190134.19749@uncecs.edu> dlugose@uncecs.edu (Dan Dlugose) writes:
>In article <36124@cup.portal.com> fleming@cup.portal.com (Stephen R Fleming) writes:
>>First off... if the bank paid for your computer, they have the right
>>to tell you what you may and may not keep on it.  Enough said.
>>  
>    If your employer pays for your filing cabinet, they do not have
>the right to search through it at night and throw out anything they
>do not think belongs there, e.g. personal papers!  At best, perhaps
>they could remove your papers and give them to you to dispose of as you
>saw fit.
>    Almost every employee at every desk in the world has some personal
>items in his/her desk.  Why not on a hard disk that has sufficient
>space?

They certainly have the right to search through it at night if they
wish.  If they find something illegal (ie: stolen goods), I don't think
it would be unreasonable to confiscate it, or call the police.

If they find something dangerous to the legitimate equipment (ie: public
domain software may have a virus and infect other applications),
they also have the right to dispose of it (although they might be 
nice and ask you to do it).  

My company does not approve of virtually any external disks or software
being used on its machines, due to the virus risk.  Whether there is
space or not for them is irrelevant.

Eric


disclaimer:  The opinions expressed above are my own only.