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Original poster

Advice

179 replies

SlightlyfreakedouT1 · 29/07/2017 21:17

I was sacked this week. The week before I made a complaint to my boss that the company IT man had been logging onto my worktop whilst I was using it at home. My friends husband (who runs an IT company)confirmed this by looking at the logs for the remote access.

What I did not realise is that the IT man in question is my ex-bosses brother in law. I am unsure if this is a criminal offence or not and whether I should pursue it?

OP posts:
Original poster
SlightlyfreakedouT1 · 30/07/2017 14:25

it is only a small company employing about 25. There was no HR company and so I reported it in a meeting we had about something else. This is what happened:
One the Friday evening I get in from work and try to log on to the company server to put my orders on. The company server is down. Not wanting to bother my boss, I go to the IT peoples website and send an email asking if there is a problem with server. He replies that he has turned it off because of NHS hacking thing. For some reason, he also asked me for my IP address. This correspondence was done on my private email.
On the Monday I go to work and my boss tells me that I shouldn't have contacted the IT firm over the weekend as he charges him for every enquiry. I said that was a bit OTT given that I only asked a question and it was then that he said 'yeh but he's my brother in law so i let him get away with it'. He then went on to slag him off for various things. A couple of nights later the IT man appears on the Google hangout. (I have said previously that he logged in to the lap top 45 minutes before he announced he was there).I mention it to my boss and his daughter the next day and my boss says ' i told you not to go on the server at home'. I replied that I did not go on the server and pointed out that I couldn't have gone on it even if I had wanted to and reminded him it was switched off. I explained that the lap top was connected to my home wifi and nothing else. The next day I told one of the girls what had happened and when I went out on an appointment she sent me a text saying that the IT man had come into the office wanting to do something on my computer. I made excuses to stay away from the office for as long as I could but eventually had to go in. As soon as I went in, my boss asked me for my lap top and said the IT man needed to do an update and then he sat there in front of me and spent 5 minutes on it. I was really embarrassed because not only had I slagged him off the previous day when he acknowledged that he was on it (45 minutes after he logged in) but also because I couldn't recall what I had been talking to my boyfriend about the previous night.

It was only when i then took the lap top to my friends husband that evening and he showed me there was a months worth of logs that showed he had been logging in evenings, saturdays and sundays did I feel really embarrassed and remembered that I had taken laptop into the shower, been reading in bed half naked etc. I brought this up at a meeting with my boss, his daughter and the office manager a few days later and they looked at each other in a kind of 'oh shit' sort of way and then my boss starts going on about me being on the company server when he told me not to. I said he only told me about it the day before and that I wasnt on the server i was on my own wifi and he just seemed to get really mad and then changed the subject and wrapped up the meeting. It was then that I realised I was going to get sacked. I can not recall why I specifically knew this but it must have been something that was said or just the way they all looked at each other I dont know. He was partucularly p'd off that I had allowed my friends husband access though and I can understand that now.

OP posts:
Mychildcouldnotbreaatfeed · 30/07/2017 14:28

You aren't really helping yourself here.

Are you very young?

Original poster
SlightlyfreakedouT1 · 30/07/2017 14:35

For him to remotely take over my lap top he can see everything that is on the screen. whether he was viewing me through the web cam or viewing me through what he could see on the screen (the google hang out) he was viewing me.If he was doing updates all those times he was logged in I would have seen the cursor moving around etc. I did sometimes see the cursor move without me touching it and pages such as my personal email would be open when I was sure I had left them closed. I can not say why, call it intuition but I just felt like he was watching and that day he came in to the office he looked really awkward. Even the girl that I confided in about it said so.

OP posts:
Original poster
SlightlyfreakedouT1 · 30/07/2017 14:38

why am i not helping myself? And no I am not very young just very stupid and not very au fait with anything digital.

OP posts:
AlpacasPackOwls · 30/07/2017 14:38

He can't "view you" unless he's using the Web cam. He can see what you're doing on the laptop but can't see you.

Original poster
SlightlyfreakedouT1 · 30/07/2017 14:41

On the googlehangout i can see myself on the screen and whoever I am talking to. If he's viewing my screen, he can see that too I am assuming.

OP posts:
AlpacasPackOwls · 30/07/2017 14:43

Oh right, you mean you are using the video calling option. Yes, he would have seen that.

SpartacusSaiman · 30/07/2017 14:54

What I did not realise is that the IT man in question is my ex-bosses brother in law.

Op whetever you decide to do, get your story straight. Yout op says you didnt know he was the bosses bil when you complained.

You story above says you did know before then.

Good luck whatever happens. And please dont use your laptop for personal use or let anyone else look at it. Whatever people say getting 3rd party to look at your laptop and changed settings is a potential security breech and could end up with you in trouble .

Original poster
SlightlyfreakedouT1 · 30/07/2017 15:06

i did not know he was my bosses bil until i went into the office. For the previous 8 months i just though he was an independant IT company employed by the business. Had that been the case, I wouldnt have been so embarrassed when i had to tell them that i listened to music on the thing whilst in the shower etc. There's a difference between telling your boss you think the IT man is a perv and telling him his wifes brother is a pervert trust me.

OP posts:
Mychildcouldnotbreaatfeed · 30/07/2017 15:08

I didn't think you were supposed to have electronics in a bathroom for the steam.

Original poster
SlightlyfreakedouT1 · 30/07/2017 15:11

Oh and what I haven't said is that by my ex bosses reaction it wouldn't surprise me if he hadn't logged in too. My friends husband said there was a few lines of incoming traffic as he put it. We identified the ones that were when i was in the office or at home but there really shouldn't have been any more than one as the only places I connected were at home or in the office. Add his IP address as the third one and it doesn't stack up. Possibly him, his daughter anyone could have been watching and listening without my knowledge.

OP posts:
Original poster
SlightlyfreakedouT1 · 30/07/2017 15:12

I have a very good extraction fan ha ha.

OP posts:
Mychildcouldnotbreaatfeed · 30/07/2017 15:13

But if you mention the bathroom that's what they'll say. No,electronics in bathroom is standard advice.

Original poster
SlightlyfreakedouT1 · 30/07/2017 15:15

And why did you leave your last job Susan? Oh, I took the company lap top into the bathroom......
My names not Susan btw

OP posts:
Mychildcouldnotbreaatfeed · 30/07/2017 15:17

You aren't getting it at all.

If you say he saw me in the shower via the webcam they'll say you,shouldn't have had the computer in the bathroom.

Original poster
SlightlyfreakedouT1 · 30/07/2017 15:21

I totally get it. I'm not completely stupid you know! I think that would be a ridiculous defence though.

OP posts:
SpartacusSaiman · 30/07/2017 15:28

It would be. Unless they were monitoring you.

As you say you have no clue if he accessed the webcam. Were you video chatting your boyfriend from the shower?

Original poster
SlightlyfreakedouT1 · 30/07/2017 15:39

No i wasn't and I didn't do anything to be embarrassed about either. Possibly things were discussed with my family or friends that he could have heard, private stuff. After reading all these responses and links to various sites people have kindly provided it is clear that they should have informed me that they were monitoring the lap top out of hours. I was not sacked for misconduct and so they had no reason to monitor me in such a way. I have come to the assumption that they have broken the law but as I can not now prove it, there is no point telling anyone in authority about it. Possibly I will report them for breaches of data protection to the body that somebody posted a link to to protect anyone who works there in the future.

OP posts:
daisychain01 · 30/07/2017 16:00

The Information Commissioners office (ICO) is the body you'd need to put in a complaint with Slightly. I'd take a proper look on the website about what they do and what they do with complaints.

If I were you I'd put it behind you. You could end up running round in circles for no benefit.

Why not buy your own portable tablet like an iPad (iOS 10) or Samsung Galaxy (Android), they are great for checking emails so you don't have to access anything private on work equipment, and they are very compact. I have a work laptop and mobile, plus my personal iPad and mobile. I check private emails and text, WhatsApps etc. only using my own devices. I am very protective towards my digital footprint, and segregate absolutely everything.

TittyGolightly · 30/07/2017 17:01

Haven't RTFT but why on earth were you doing private stuff on a company computer? Video calls and private email accounts? There's naive and there's downright daft.

Bluntness100 · 30/07/2017 17:34

This is very very weird. Clearly op you think this man was watching you secretly for some form of titallatiin as you had a habit of being naked in front of your lap top and you think you were fired because you blew the whistle.

If you really think this then go to the police. The history will be there and they can't delete it, they will be able to see what he was doing inc viewing via webcam.

SpartacusSaiman · 30/07/2017 18:13

Thank god for that Op. I was hoping you hadnt been doing rude stuff over the webcam. Grin

They didnt sack you at all. But i wonder what they would put say they were speaking to you about. I just can't help think they are dodgy bastards and will have covered their trail.

I know you didnt falsify anything. But it ticks all the boxes for them if you say them did.

Original poster
SlightlyfreakedouT1 · 30/07/2017 21:06

Tittygolightly it's not all about me sat naked on the lap top. Most of the time I was working on it.

Bluntness - is that right? Would they definite be able to see logs that showed he was using the webcam because if that is the case I will go to the police as there is no reason that he can justify doing that. Will the police be bothered or will they like a lot of the posters on here just think I am stupid?

OP posts:
daisychain01 · 30/07/2017 21:53

Will the police be bothered or will they like a lot of the posters on here just think I am stupid?

slightly I'm sure you've heard the expression "when you're in a hole, stop digging". Think about what you could possibly hope to achieve by going to the police.

You seemed to admit upthread that you recognised your mistakes in all this, now you're gong down a track of what seems to be getting your own back on your ex-employers. Just.dont.bother.

AlpacasPackOwls · 30/07/2017 22:02

I still don't understand why you think he has been activating the webcam. He saw your video call with your boyfriend because it was through the laptop, not because he was watching through the webcam.

If he truly has been spying on you through the webcam then it would be voyeurism and a criminal offence. So yes the police would get involved. I have no idea about logs of activity or how far the police will take it to collect evidence though

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