By
Steve Anderson, Contributing TMCnet Writer
While the bring your own device (BYOD) movement offers a wide variety of valuable features to most companies regardless of size, there are emerging reports that suggest that it's not all good news when it comes to BYOD. In fact, some rather disturbing legal issues have emerged that may make some companies look twice at their own plans to roll out BYOD. Recent reports from lawyer Michael Abcarian explain two of the major problems with the BYOD movement, issues of the devices themselves and issues of the use of said devices.
Privacy is a major issue when it comes to a BYOD program. A company may need to investigate something that's occurred within its normal operations, and that in turn would require the examination of documents and the like stored on a mobile device. But for those who use their personal devices for work, the issue becomes significantly more troublesome. The need to examine the devices in question means that a lot of personal information is going to be seen by those doing the examining, and that raises a lot of privacy questions that can turn into serious legal trouble.
But it's not just the examination of devices that can be troublesome legally; just the regular use of devices at unusual times of day could be a matter. For instance, consider an employee off the clock who responds to an e-mail or a phone call on their personal device at 9 p.m. An employer might consider that a note of flexibility, a little give in the give-and-take relationship that good business can foster. The United States Department of Labor, meanwhile, considers that work for which the employee should be paid... Read More
