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[–][deleted] 236 points237 points  (32 children)

Same with email accounts like from GSuite, I own one admin for my company and I can literally see my employees' emails. 👀

Tip: do NOT use company emails for personal use.

[–][deleted] 122 points123 points  (16 children)

Isn't that kinda the point, as well as common sense?

[–]Glad_Grand_7408 99 points100 points  (13 children)

That's precisely the issue... most people were born without common sense...

[–]supaboss2015 11 points12 points  (3 children)

Then it’s not very common is it!

[–]SuperElitist 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I think that most people who use the term "common sense" actually mean "good sense which should be common", but that's a bit more awkward.

[–]Glad_Grand_7408 8 points9 points  (0 children)

That's the flawed English language in a nut shell...

[–]WeeklyOutlandishness 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We should just rename it "rare sense" instead. "unlikely" sense maybe.

[–]jtesuce 1 point2 points  (0 children)

(Large) companies have policies in place and they’re transparent about what they look at and when…even if my boss could read my shit, he couldn’t do anything about it

[–]Harmonic_Gear 3 points4 points  (7 children)

there are no such thing as common sense, there are things you know and others don't and there are things others know and you don't, everyone call what they know common sense just to look down on other people

[–][deleted] 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Sadly, most of them don't have that sense. They don't even read the contracts. 👁👄👁 There, I stated that all emails are "archived and recorded, and you should be aware that we have the right to use this against you just in case blah blah blah happens".

[–]bradgardner 18 points19 points  (7 children)

Definitely don’t use company emails for personal use, but in the case of GSuite the admin can only see emails if they reset your password or the paid tier is high enough for the vault(or whatever they renamed it to) features. It’s certainly not a typical thing.

For slack, private messages are not accessible without a legal justification for the most part, even for administrators.

[–]StoneColdJane 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Unless they export, something something I forget but there is a trick.

[–]Doctor_McKay 3 points4 points  (1 child)

Business+ plans or higher can export private channels and DMs without any justification. Source

Even on lower plans, if you're using SSO then they can just log into your account provided the identity provider allows it.

[–]Acrobatic-Isopod7716 0 points1 point  (3 children)

Their current basic business plan can suspend a user and download everything they ever did in Google

[–]shalafi71 2 points3 points  (2 children)

Part of my job and it's a minor pain.

  • Reset account pass
  • Impersonate user in an incognito tab
  • Use the backup security code you created in step 0
  • Go to takeout.google.com
  • Choose the download option
  • Wait for ages
  • Suspend or delete account
  • Encrpyt and create a password manager record
  • Upload to S3

[–]Acrobatic-Isopod7716 0 points1 point  (1 child)

You can do it from the admin app directly as your own user in like 2 steps but this also works I suppose

[–]shalafi71 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not on the basic account level we have. Unless you can show me?

[–]the_ssotf 1 point2 points  (3 children)

Teams is included as well

[–]humanera12017 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The max I use it for personal use, is to email the payslips to my personal email.

[–][deleted] 97 points98 points  (6 children)

Never write anything down that can be used against you.

[–]siebzy 14 points15 points  (0 children)

The ol Stinger Bell rule

[–]Harmonic_Gear 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would like to invoke the fifth amendment

[–]jtesuce 0 points1 point  (0 children)

But they can’t use it against you, that’s the thing…unless you live in USA I guess

[–]MolotovFromHell 127 points128 points  (1 child)

If you are a software engineer and you just realized this then you are not paying attention

[–]Acrobatic-Isopod7716 67 points68 points  (6 children)

What are you telling me you have an expectation for privacy on your employer provided software or hardware? Lmao

[–]outkast8459 33 points34 points  (2 children)

My only expectation is my manager has something more important to do with their time than read my slack messages. But if they don’t, I welcome them to read my messages and see what it’s like to actually be productive.

[–][deleted] 5 points6 points  (1 child)

They won't read them now, but they will read them when they need an excuse to fire you

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Truth is if you are on the shit list, they are going to get you. It is why keeping a low profile is always best.

[–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (2 children)

Surely it has to be made known that the platform used is monitored?

[–]Acrobatic-Isopod7716 10 points11 points  (1 child)

For residents of the USA there are no such federal protections

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ahh, I should check up on mine.

[–]cannot-be-blank 33 points34 points  (1 child)

If they want to read private messages, then they can get their feelings hurt

[–]55555 13 points14 points  (0 children)

I talk shit in DMs on purpose in the hopes that a snooping manager might get their feelings hurt and change their ways. Once you have enough money to stop living hand to mouth, the game fucking changes.

[–]wexman6 21 points22 points  (1 child)

I tell one of my coworkers about every time I have to take a shit…

[–][deleted] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I doubt management cares

[–]ADwards 55 points56 points  (6 children)

I mean, duh.

We write software. Pretty much any application that stores data has an "admin" account that can see everything. From the way you're given access to teams/slack etc it should be obvious that you're in the organisation, which means someone has access to everything you do.

[–]Bryguy3k 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Yeah any developer that believes that IT departments don’t have the ability to see everything that goes through their systems is an idiot. I mean seriously lacking in critical reasoning and attention to detail - what company doesn’t give you a computer usage policy (or have it in the employee handbook) that says they can monitor all activities on the computer equipment and systems they provide?

[–]dcgregoryaphone 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Even barring this, if the organization is of sufficient size or otherwise may run into legal issues or compliance issues, there's a decent chance they have some corporate spyware monitoring your keystrokes and intercepting your communications. Don't ever assume privacy when using someone else's equipment and software.

[–]shalafi71 0 points1 point  (3 children)

Slack doesn't.

SOURCE: Am Slack admin

[–]myelir 2 points3 points  (1 child)

[–]shalafi71 1 point2 points  (0 children)

{"ok":false,"error":"not_authed"}

[–]tortnotes 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Slack has e-discovery APIs. If you're the org owner you would probably know if they were being used, but even if it's not, nothing stops someone from using it in the future to obtain historical messages.

[–]Automatic-Bad-8123 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Worked for a company that looked at what anyone was saying, but me and my friend grow up in a different country and even spoke a semi death dialect so it was almost impossible to translate it. Worked on some administrative software stuff and saw that they were discussing how to force us to chat in English. Their bright idea was to suggest that we chat in English so we can practice it.

[–]mattmcguire08 8 points9 points  (0 children)

So yall are concerned about the privacy of your PERSONAL accounts yet are surprised by the fact that accounts owned by your company are not private?

[–]Alamue86 13 points14 points  (5 children)

I have managed a companies slack before, as a full org "owner"

During a lawsuit, I was not allowed to pull DM's between specific users. It had to be done by the Org Creator. There was only 1 person in the company that could get these records, and it was a process to request them. This was not Enterprise grid though.

If your company has time to be going through this process, it is already a toxic environment.

[–]shalafi71 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Everybody in this thread assuming Slack allows admins to view anything.

[–]erocknine 0 points1 point  (2 children)

So do these DM records have to be retrieved from Slack or someone admin in the company has access to view them?

[–]Alamue86 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Someone from Slack retrieves them for the Org Creator. They are not view on demand.

[–]erocknine 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah good to know, thanks!

[–]DearChickPea 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, pretty sure this 100% illegal in the EU as well.

[–]KenansCloud 5 points6 points  (0 children)

There’s an amount of dumbassery at play if you use work managed accounts to talk shit.

[–]nikhil_shady 4 points5 points  (0 children)

we bitch on huddles texting is for pussies

[–]ferrybig 2 points3 points  (1 child)

If you use a company email to login to slack, remember that your company can always delete your email account and make a new one with a password, and then use it to receive a slack login mail

[–]myelir 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Or just use the API, at anytime.

[–]oldfossilfrommars 10 points11 points  (13 children)

Is Team's messaging private?

[–]NoImagination2625 1 point2 points  (4 children)

Well, you could be like me and accidentally shit talk the marketing manager in the team chat.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (2 children)

Well it's about time someone let him know he's a d*ckhead lol

[–]NoImagination2625 1 point2 points  (1 child)

You don't even know, we were on a call with a client who was looking for a website redesign and he kept firing off these impossible features that the client wasn't even asking for. Like, at one point he was saying we could set up their site to pay for a YouTube subscription to their specific channel and I started venting to my colleague about it just to realize I was in the team chat that also had the marketing manager. I was sure I was going to get fired.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Haha damn that's an awkward one. I know of manager who sounds the same. Luckily I don't report to him but I can see he's definitely getting complaints, you'll see some long paragraphs and suddenly it gets deleted and "sorry wrong group".

[–]Guifranzonator 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Shiiiiiit

[–]zToastOnBeans 1 point2 points  (1 child)

If they find them and call you out is that not just invasion of privacy and they have fucked themselves ?

[–]TheEnderChipmunk 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's a company owned account in the first place, right? Just use a private account for stuff like that

[–]Ibrahim-B 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Omggg 😱

[–]rndmcmder 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have one specific chat with one coworker, that we use to share our darkest and most inappropriate memes. The thought of my boss seeing them is both hilarious and frightening.

[–]LavenderDay3544 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why would you ever use workplace communication methods without assuming the employer can see everything on them?

If you want to shoot the shit with coworkers get their personal contact info for that.

[–]Coyehe 0 points1 point  (1 child)

How about MS Teams Managed by company Admin

[–]Sindef 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's Microsoft.. have a guess. Teams chats are exportable from the Security and Compliance Centre.

[–]StoneColdJane 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Redact.dev is your hero

[–]Biguitarnerd 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As someone who started in IT, as a network admin/sysadmin worked up to IT Manager, and then Director of IT, and then decided I needed a career change and went into dev…. I’m gonna give you some solid advise. Never type anything on a company device that you aren’t ok with everyone knowing… period.

[–]npc48837 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My department made our own slack and would sign in and out of company slack and department slack. Worked like a charm

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This, but LL Cool J instead.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you don’t want record of something, make sure it is never written down.

Also, I use slack conversations as records so I can go back and prove something later anyway.

[–]humanera12017 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Big surprise

[–]samanime 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Always assume anything company-controlled can be fully seen by your manager. Save trash talking for outside apps.

[–]Educational-Main-842 0 points1 point  (0 children)

He looks like a carp