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Comment by junto | Hacker News Reader

Golden rules to live by: Never use work computers for personal use, period. Your work contract more than likely specifically includes a clause.

Been there, got the T-shirt, been escorted off the premises (for sending personal emails on work time), whilst working for large US corp. This was over 15 years ago when I was starting out and I learned a very valuable lesson.

If you are a 'trouble maker' i.e. someone who asks too many undesirable questions or rocks the boat, then HR will find a way to fire you. Your work contract protects them and not you.

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I do most of my personal browsing through an RDP connection to my home computer, but something that I've been concerned about: Chrome on my work computer is logged into my personal Google account. That means all of my extensions--including a password management tool--are available to my employer should they choose to log into my computer.

The conspiracy-minded part of me worries that, with the proper motivation, they could log into my email, Glassdoor, etc accounts and defensibly snoop on me since the information was technically on one of their machines. Whether this far flung possibility warrants foregoing the convenience of having all of my bookmarks and logins with me at work is unclear.

> Chrome on my work computer is logged into my personal Google account.

That's not very smart...

Don't do it.

Bring your personal laptop to work, browse only thru the "personal hotspot" feature of your cellphone. Don't use the corporate network for anything non-work-related.

You might object and say that it's obvious that you're doing "personal browsing" if you're using your personal laptop. Ok, it is obvious. So just browse during break times and lunch. You don't need to be doing extensive personal browsing from work.

It goes beyond personal use. Odds are you signed an agreement that says "Anything I do using company resources is owned by the company."*

So you have to be careful for any open source work, startup ideas, etc that you may have. Don't do it at work or on your work machine (even at home).

* If your agreement says "everything you do is ours," it's already too late for you. I never sign those contracts.

Rules like this are draconian and obsolete. Expecting employees, who are in fact humans, to completely ignore their non-work lives during the majority of the day, every day, is ridiculous.

I think there's a gray area. Certainly most of the companies I've worked for have turned a blind eye to people 'stepping out' to make appointments or take a phone call on a personal cell phone.

But to post about the company on a site like Glassdoor, on company time (which was implied) and using a company computer and network, seems foolish to me. After all, you are at work, no?

The key isn't to have hard rules to live by.

Know your employer.

I, for example, have no interest in working for a company where casual personal communication would get a person fired.

I thought I knew my employer at the time. I joined a progressive ground breaking (large) team.

Bosses came and went. I was naïve.

Bosses don't even have to come and go. The existing bosses just have to be desperate enough.

Surprisingly, this is especially true if the bosses are the original founders.

   Never use work computers
   for personal use, period.

I'm 100% with you on this one.

People who ignore this are making a big mistake. Nowadays it's just too easy to bring a laptop and a cellphone to work and use the "personal hotspot" feature.

As for sending personal emails on work time, that's what breaks and lunch are for, on your personal laptop. Fifteen years ago a laptop was much more expensive and personal hotspots didn't exist. Fifteen years ago I also used company computers for sending personal emails; thankfully I never got in trouble for it.

If you've reached the point where HR is actively trying to find a way to fire you, that probably means you royally pissed off someone in a position of power, and your use of company equipment for personal emails is the least of your problems. If you didn't do that they would certainly find something else to fire you for.

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