Scott Brickner writes:
The notion that, simply because you're wearing a uniform owned by your employer, you're subject to physical search at the employer's discretion is laughable. The difference between this and searching the computer on one's desk differ only in degree, IMO.
Another vaguely-related concept is that of tenants' rights to a degree of security in rental property. My employer owns the workstation in front of me, but in exchange for supplying them with software and ideas (when I'm not busy sending e-mail to mailing lists ;-) they've "given" it to me to use in that pursuit. They could of course insist that I pay for it, like the old company store model that railroad workers dealt with. In a sense I do pay for it, under the idea that the company would be able to pay me more if not for the expense of the tools I need for the job. Though the ownership==control equation works sometimes, and is appealing to reason, I don't think things are always so simple. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | Nobody's going to listen to you if you just | Mike McNally (m5@tivoli.com) | | stand there and flap your arms like a fish. | Tivoli Systems, Austin TX | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~