Workplace Computers And Electronic Devices: Protecting Confidential Information And Preserving Evidence - Part Two

Part Two: We've secured the evidence but can we look at it?

If you have not read part one of this four part series, see the June issue of BLG's L&E News.

Having taken appropriate measures to protect your confidential information and secure the evidence showing that an employee may have unlawfully copied, transferred or destroyed your company information and now that you have this evidence in hand (in the form of a laptop, a hard drive, a smartphone, a USB key or any other type of storage device), you ask yourself a very important question: am I allowed to look at and use whatever information or data I have found on my employee's workplace device?

You might be tempted to answer "yes, it's the company's device, we can do what we want with it!" After all, the company paid for the device, it paid for the internet connection data service, it paid the employee while he or she was using the device, so why can't the company look at and use any information it finds on