NetSurfer <jdwilson@gold.chem.hawaii.edu> wrote:

Surprise. It is their equipment to do with as they please and if you don't want to follow along with their conditions of access... In the gov't it is literally against the law and considered theft of government resources (cpu time, equipment (pc, terminal etc.), electricity...) to use government equipment for private purposes.

I'm sure this is the case in law, but to take an analogy, this is like banning employees from *receiving* private telephone calls. (Email has zero marginal cost to most institutions, as does a telephone connection). While I am sure there are a few employers who do ban staff from taking calls at work, I'd think of them in the "Gradgrind and Gradgrind plc" class and not expect them to keep their staff long. In fact, I know of few employers who in practice object to reasonable use of the phones to *make* personal calls. (The government is an exception, although the UK defence ministry just worked out that 25% or so of their phone bill was to private numbers, which may herald a crackdown). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Parratt * The reason why so many people play soccer Still in London, * is so they don't have to watch it being rparratt@london.micrognosis.com * played. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------