Fired over MP3s

The crackdown on file sharing at the office has claimed yet another victim.

If you've been swapping MP3s or running distributed computation software over your employer's network, now would be a good time to:

• remove all traces of any installed software from your work station and anywhere else on the network.

• gather up all of your "personal data".

• take it home and keep it there.

Oh yeah, one more thing: make a mental note to remember to forget that any of it ever happened.

If you think I worry too much, just read Fired over MP3s , an article by CNET's Evan Hansen that ran in today's New York Times.

These days, most employees should know better than to trade MP3
files over their employer's network, but if you're not already in the know, know
now: it's time to clean off your work station and start off with a
clean slate, so to speak, or you might be the next legal guinea pig.

In fact, the
real panic probably hasn't even kicked in yet. Just ask href="http://www.freemcowen.com/" target="david">David McOwen, an IT
Administrator who was picked up, taken to jail and charged by his former
employer with committing a felony act (worth 15 years in the slammer) that resulted in over $400,000 worth of damages (.59 a minute x 500 computers x Winter Break).

This
all took place despite his former employer's original assurances from over 18
months ago (when the incident originally took place) that David's
resignation would be a sufficient resolution to the matter.

Too bad there's no statute of limitations on hysteria.

Resources

• 
  

  Fired over MP3s

  
  By Evan Hansen, CNETNews.com
  The New York Times
  (August 6, 2001)
  (http://www.nytimes.com/cnet/CNET_0-1005-200-6775251.html)

• The debate over distributed computing
  By Lisa M. Bowman
  CNETNews.com
  (August 1, 2001)
  (http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-6740797.html)

• Free David McOwen Website
  (http://www.freemcowen.com/)

Good advice? Or am I the one who's hysterical?