Laptop turned in to IT support has a document with staff member's name. Is it ethical for the staff member to read it?

Question

I'm one of the two team members who work in IT support at my company. I recently had a laptop turned in for hard drive replacement. While copying the files to the new drive, I noticed a document named "John Doe.docx", where John Doe is my full name. I returned the laptop after replacing the drive, but have yet to destroy the old drive.

Would it be ethical for me to read the document having my name? I understand it'd generally be considered an integrity violation to read emails and other documents of others. That's not what I'm doing – or is it?

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EDIT: I accepted an answer and have wiped the disk without opening anything.

Answer 1

As an IT support person, you are only authorized to do what is needed to resolve the users' IT issues. In this case, the user wants his disk replaced without losing his data. Hence, you only need to move the data from the old disk to the new disk, and replace the disk.

Snooping into the contents of the disk because you found them "interesting" is a breach of trust, whether or not it is a violation of company policy or local laws.

Answer 2

Would it be ethical for me to read the document in my name?

I understand it'd generally be considered an integrity violation to read the emails and other documents of others. That's not what I'm doing -- or is it?

It's obviously not your document, so of course you would be reading the documents of others without their permission.

While you might get away with it, this would certainly be unethical. I think you already know that.

Now you get to decide how ethically you wish to act.

Answer 3

I'd like to give an alternative answer, because it's the first thing that popped into my head when I read the post:

Was the document on the desktop of the computer? Or otherwise in some place you were meant to see? Does the owner of the laptop know that you personally would be doing the hard drive replacement?

These questions are important because the document may have been meant for you to see. Perhaps special instructions for while you're replacing the hard drive.

However, if the document is out of the way (and by that I mean pretty much anywhere besides the desktop) and/or accompanied with files with other peoples names then it can be safely concluded that you weren't meant to find/read it.

Adding thanks to @Bilkokuya:

If there's any doubt that the file was actually meant for you to see you should ask about it. If you're too anxious about it to ask, that's probably a sign that it isn't meant for you.

Answer 4

Aside from the above excellent and correct answers, can you get away with asking the mildly snarky question 'So .. out of wild curiosity, I noticed that your hard drive has a file with my name on it, which I did not open. What's in it??' Then don't say a word, and don't give the impression that you opened the file.

Answer 5

This would not only unethical, but a reason for dismissal. Unless he stores something like child porn on his hard drive, you are not entitled to check his files. Maybe he just stores some information about you so he can remember you, or he stores your contact information so he knows who the IT guy is. Anyway, it is not your business, so you should do your job and leave it at that.

EDIT: If you suspect illegal stuff you should inform your manager and law enforcement.

Answer 6

This opens Pandora's Box

Suppose you read it. And there's something actionable in there.

What do you do about it? Or more to the point, how do you do nothing about it?

Can you really look and interact in the same way, knowing of their unrequited romantic feelings for you?

Can you really bite your tongue continuously, knowing of their very negative assessment of your work that has its facts so very wrong?

Do not put yourself in that position, as it is a miserable place to be.

Aside from all the legal and ethical issues already discussed.

Answer 7

It's not ethical to read a file unless you have permission to access it.

But it's not unethical to be curious about something you saw in plain sight. I assume you saw the file name in the copy dialog for a second while it was copying. If you really want to, you can go ask HR/your boss and tell them you noticed a file with your name while copying everything and ask if you can open it.

If you get written permission (over an E-Mail or something), you are more than welcome to see it. Chances are maybe it is HR data about you and they don't want you to see it either.

Answer 8

As others said: it is not ethical.

Did you previously ask a request to the department which the owner of this computer belong? I do not think you would have found interesting stuff in this file.

I used to work part-time support when I started in IT. I went through so many sessions one on one with a user to check if the workstation transfer was successful.

Those files were often:

• The original resume
• An aggregate of multiple requests related to the same person
• A short description of the person for the inside company news
• The job description
• Evaluation
• etc.

Also, usually, interested files are not named with the intent. I never encountered a file named "layout", but "employees structure version +1". People know that IT people have all access, and they behave accordingly.

In conclusion, I recommend you to not open this file. I previously witnessed a network administrator fired on the spot for opening a honeypot called "salary.xls". There is not a lot to gain and lot to risk.

Answer 9

You have a responsibility to report to your manager anything harmful, unprofessional or inappropriate that you discover. Most companies have policies about what laptops can be used for, and what content can be stored on the hard drives (i.e. porn isn't allowed).

Personal information, or documents pertaining to you specifically would be inappropriate if that person shouldn't have such a document as part of their job.

You should not have hesitated. The moment you discovered the file, then you should have stopped what you were doing and gone straight to your manager, and brought that person back to your desk and said "Look at what I just discovered. Should I be concerned?"

You didn't do that. You completed the task, returned the laptop and kept the original hard drive.

The original hard drive does not belong to you. Do not access the contents of that drive again without permissions from the owner, or otherwise part of your job activities.

You can ofcourse bring this drive to your manager, and explain that you saw something that concerned you. Sit down with him/her and explain how this makes you feel, explain that you didn't read the document and ask for an explanation as to why such a file would exist.

If your organization has you working independently without a clearly defined manager, then bring the hard drive to human resources.

It's possible people might criticize you for seeking help with this matter, but try to understand that doing what is morally correct often results in criticism. If you fear that criticism and take matters into your own hands, then things will be far worse if you get caught.

Answer 10

Is the person whose computer you were working on likely to have a valid reason for having a document using your name and possibly having information about you (rather than for you) in it? Were there other documents named after other staff members? As I see it, you have two options. One is to ask that person if the document was given your name because it was meant for your attention, even if it was dated months ago. It could be that it was originally meant for you but then something changed and they didn't delete it. The other is to put your question to HR, in asking them if it would be correct or not (it's natural to be curious) they will clarify the matter, and if there's no valid reason for this person to have a file named after you (or anyone), it will bring it to their attention.

Answer 11

Since we are in a professional environment where privacy and ethics are two very important aspects, it is very wrong to open such documents, especially if it pertains to us.

Being an IT Support Assistant myself, I have come across several similar situations where I have had to literally wage a war against my urge to open such documents. I can tell you one thing, it is definitely very hard to stop yourself from opening the document. Being curious is basic human nature, and it is not wrong wanting to open the document. You will have sleepless nights thinking about that document, But, over time, you will learn to let go of that urge.

EDIT

As I was saying in my first sentence of my initial answer, since we are in a professional environment at work, we need to respect privacy of fellow employees and act as per the ethics. If a document is not intended for you, even if it might something about you, like having your name on it, for example, your performance report drafted by your lead intended for your manager, you are not supposed to see the contents, unless you are authorized to see it. And since your job in this scenario is to repair the computer, you have to strictly stick to it and do nothing else.

Answer 12

I'd say opening files would be unethical and beyond that it might be illegal or against the rules of your company.

In addition to that, I have several questions to you (don't answer, just think about it):

• Is there a strict privacy policy about such data copying? Would opening this file get you fired, fined or otherwise be a negative experience?
• Is there a security audit going on in your company to find out if this exact sort of situation happens and if the personnel replacing the hard drives take a look at what's on them?
• Would anyone be interested in setting you up for this kind of situation? Would anyone benefit from exposing your possible breach of trust/privacy? (Perhaps a personal vendetta, who knows)

Keep in mind, that if you're copying the data on a computer connected to the local network or the outer internet, opening files which may contain links to external images may result in web requests being sent to certain addresses, which can be logged, and if the url is unique, it can be traced to you to definitively say that this could not have been anybody else but you.

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A very improbable but not technically impossible scenario: The file contains a certain series of bits which when read without the preceding bits outside of the file (as a full drive copying tool would) by a specially crafted hard drive firmware can record the act of opening the file in some way that would be detectable later when the drive's data is copied. Or it could trigger an electric circuit on the hard drive's controller which could be hooked up to anything! Who knows! :D

Answer 13

The above answers (I think it's safe to assume that they will all stay above this one) cover the OP's ethical question. I'm going to answer a slightly different question, which is this: suppose you succumbed to curiosity and looked at the file--what is the ethical thing to do now?

Consider:

• The knowledge in your brain should not be there.
• It's there because you breached someone's trust.
• You can't remove the knowledge from your brain.

The only thing left that you can do is to mitigate the damage caused by your breach of trust.

In my opinion, the best way to do that is to ensure that no other entity in the universe is affected by that knowledge. Don't use that information to make any decisions. Don't use it to change your opinion of the person whose trust you breached. Don't tell the person you have that information. Don't tell your closest confidant/spouse/lawyer that information. In short, act as if you never knew it. When the information comes back to mind, remind yourself that you only know it as a result of a breach of trust and that you are ethically required to act as if you do not know it.

This is hard, but you made the mistake, you should accept the consequences.

Answer 14

There is more to it than just ethics here. Even if it is ethical to read it. You will most likely be reading things without or in the wrong context.

What if that happens, what are you then going to do? My guess is that most people will not go to that person to tell them they just read a file from there computer and want clarification. This is also an answer to the question whatever it is ethical.

So simply ask yourself. If what I read needs clarification, would I (or others from my current region, country, etc.) feel comfortable telling that person you read it?

Answer 15

I have to disagree with 99% of the other answers.

As an admin assigned to recover data you can access everything IMO, because part of the job is making sure that the data is readable/functional.

To ensure that, you need to open a few files sporadically at least.

It's also possible that this file includes information adressed to you, especially if it's in a location the client knows or hopes you will see, eg. the desktop or the folder you are supposed to rescue.

If you rescue the data, but it turns out the rescue mechanism wasn't good enough to recover the data, then the client will send you the laptop again, complaining about your slacky work.

If you rescue the data, but ignored the clients instructions written in the file (which might be extremely important), you might get fired or warned or sued for your slacky work.

Also under most jurisdictions, you are entitled to request information about you, that is stored by companies, so the file that is handed to you is accessible in multiple ways and you are definitly allowed to read it.

Answer 16

This is a question you should check with the corresponding security procedures of your company.

Definitely not rely answers from random people on the internet!

Answer 17

Yes, despite the various ingenious arguments that have been presented, it's almost certainly unethical for you to read it.

But, if you suspect it's ADDRESSED to you - well, you can always ask!

(By the way, what DID it contain? We know you looked!)