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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to save files to a USB stick and take them with me when I leave?

54 replies

thinkingbig · 25/02/2011 21:32

Regular here but have name changed.

I am thinking of quitting my job and starting up my own business, which will not e a direct competitor of my current employer, but which they may well perceive as a threat.

I want to take some files with me. Nothing secret - I don't intend to take client information or pricing or anything like that - I don't want to play dirty. But I do want to take some of the actual work I've done - research, basically. By law, it all belongs to my current employer so I'm in the wrong to take it. I just want it for my own reference - if I'd printed it when I wrote it I'd use the print outs instead. But I didn't - I never print anything if I can avoid it.

AIBU? And - more to the point - will they be able to tell if I've saved documents to a USB stick?

OP posts:
laosvher · 25/02/2011 21:33

YANBU, just take it
and no, they won't be able to tell

BertieBotts · 25/02/2011 21:33

They won't be able to tell.

Original poster
thinkingbig · 25/02/2011 21:41

wow, thanks for the quick replies! I really do want to take it...thanks for saying IANBU...

BertieBotts - are you sure?? They are quite evil so probably have shitloads of spyware all over my computer. (not this computer)

OP posts:
LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 25/02/2011 21:43

You don't own that work; you've been paid by your employer to do it and you could end up in Court (Intellectual Property) if you use that work elsewhere.

ThreIsNoSpoon · 25/02/2011 21:44

The computer may register that you have inserted a USB stick. Ours used to. SO that would be logged. Can you not print it and take it home for 'reading'? Then just forget to return it?

SueWhite · 25/02/2011 21:44

They probably won't find out but if they do they can sue you. Your risk.

squeakytoy · 25/02/2011 21:45

You may not be being unreasonable, but it is unethical, and puts you at risk of legal action against you if it ever comes to light.

FabbyChic · 25/02/2011 21:46

Why dont you just email it to yourself.

FabbyChic · 25/02/2011 21:46

When I left my previous employer I wish I had took health and safety documentation and environmental policies that I wrote.

Feel an ass for not taking all my own work.

BecauseImWorthIt · 25/02/2011 21:47

Print it out now, before you have resigned. Don't do anything once you have resigned.

MrsKwazii · 25/02/2011 21:50

Can you access your work email from home or burn them to CD instead? Do you have a friend in the IT department who could help? While it may be unethical, it's the kind of thing that most people do. If you're employer is evil you may need to find a sneaky way to do it though.

Good luck if you do decide to take the plunge and set up your own business - it's a brave move Smile

Original poster
thinkingbig · 25/02/2011 21:51

Thanks Witch - I know.

I have spoken to an employment lawyer about the IP issue and he thinks very unlikely to be a court case they would win, because of the nature of the work - a lot of it is just in my head anyway so it's impossible for them to tell how much I just know, and to be able to prevent me from using that. But I can't remember ALL of it so I want to take it with me.

Basically..and to be honest....I know it's not allowed so I guess, of course, I already know I ABU and I don't care - what I really want to know is if they'll be able to tell I have or, even more importantly, to be able to prove I have.

OP posts:
duchesse · 25/02/2011 21:52

Don't email it to yourself- they can almost certainly access your emails from their mainframe. I would just stick them on a memory stick and have done with it. Or print stuff out and take it home. Easier on a memory stick. Most people do it frankly.

As long you don't end up in breach of any garden leave you may get I can't see that they'd ever have reason to sue you.

idontlikemondays · 25/02/2011 21:52

Potentially there are ways they can find out what you've taken, but it would depend if they have some type of data leakage software on company computers... Not sure there is a way of telling really, but if they're quite well up on I.T and compliance type stuff in general it's possible they have something in place. Whether they would be bothered to check up is anoher matter... maybe change the file names to something non work sounding if you are going to do it!

Original poster
thinkingbig · 25/02/2011 21:54

oh gosh, loads of replies while I was agonising over mine!!

I don't think it would be a good idea to email myself anything, FabbyChic - that they would definitely notice.

Mrs K - I can access all the shared drives from home and therefore burn to CD - would that be less detectable than a USB drive??

BecauseI'mworth it - I definitely won't do anything after I've resigned...the thing is, I think they realise they've pissed me off already so if they have the capacity to monitor what I'm doing, they will. Is printing the best option??

OP posts:
Original poster
thinkingbig · 25/02/2011 21:55

PS also thanks for wishing me luck, Mrs K! I am quite scared but quite excited about taking the plunge..!

OP posts:
duchesse · 25/02/2011 21:55

If you think they have spyware installed it may be less incriminating to do what Spoon suggested- print it out and take it home for "research". Just don't for gawd's sake tell ANYONE else what you're doing- not even people you see as friends.

mmsmum · 25/02/2011 22:15

I think if you use hotmail accounts to e-mail it to yourself you should be ok.They would be able to see you had visited hotmail.com but I really don't think there is any way at all to see anything more than that. Priniting is definitely logged by most places, I mean even libraries do it so they can charge for it, so I bet a big company will have it sussed.

timetomove · 25/02/2011 22:22

My work monitor this kind of thing. But it is a very large company with large IT dept. However I have never known them to take court proceedings - they ask for info to be returned destroyed and threaten to withdraw reference or notify future employer of disciplinary proceedings, a lot of which is pretty toothless.

BecauseImWorthIt · 25/02/2011 22:25

Do you have a central server? Is there any way you could print it from someone else's computer?

BecauseImWorthIt · 25/02/2011 22:26

On the other hand, can you not print it from your own computer, with a reasonable story? Creating a manual?

Original poster
thinkingbig · 25/02/2011 22:33

Well, I could print it with a reasonable story - like, proof reading it - lots of people print stuff in order to read it. I don't, usually. Also, if they could tell I'd printed it, it would be pretty suss if I printed loads of stuff and then handed my notice in the next week! I don't want them to be suss because even though I don't think they'd win a court action, I can imagine them pursuing one anyway, just because they'd be so pissed off.

It's a small company and they outsource their IT to someone else but they're quite big on IT stuff, and my boss (who owns the company) is quite geeky. Timetomove - so it is possible then? to see (remotely, from the server) if documents are being saved to CD or a USB stick?

OP posts:
MissMarjoribanks · 25/02/2011 22:45

This is an eyeopener for me. My previous employer put all my work, and I mean all of it, on a CD for me before I left - I asked. I lost that CD in a subsequent job move and they've just done me another one as they'd kept the contents of my personal drive on the main server so others could nick bits of it if they needed to.

Intellectual property rights belonged to the employer as well.

No competitors at the Council though. Grin

HuckingFell · 25/02/2011 22:47

print it. anything else can be audited.

Original poster
thinkingbig · 25/02/2011 22:48

Printing the best idea then? I should point out - I can print from home easily. Should I then wipe the printer records somehow?

OP posts: