audit for software licenses at work

[VJ]

Hello!

At work, we today got a presentation on software licenses and legality, and it was interesting... It is in Poland, but things are similar in most countries. But this is one point that really struck me:

All computers/electronic devices on the institutes grounds must have commercial licenses. This means that if you just CARRY your personal laptop or mobile phone with you, and some software on it has a "personal use license", it is considered illegal software.

The police has the right to confiscate any electronic device in order to scan it for illegal software.

This basically makes me scared to take my mobile phone with me, let alone my laptop or ipad... Even if it has no software that might be an issue, I don't want them confiscated for some weeks just because they want to scan it.


The only way not to have a problem, is to leave your electronic devices either in the car, or check them in at the security desk.

[TransformX]

Sounds like it should be very much at odds with privacy laws and even more with property laws.

[VJ]

Basically, the law considers "if it is on the grounds of the workplace, it is considered to be used for work". And from that reasoning, it is required to have the appropriate licenses. Apparently, ownership of the device does not play any part. (this only applies to employees, guests or students can take their laptop/devices inside without problems)

[TransformX]

My cell phone is my property. I carry it with me, it's always in my pocket or at hand's reach. I use it for 'non of their f_____g business because it's mine'. If they want my privately owned cell phone, they better get a search warrant.
They also better get a tampon because the lawyer I will get and the media will be there to rip them a bloody new one.

[cjolley]

Do you check work email on your phone?
They ALL work like this. It's baked into the OSs

http://www.npr.org/2010/11/22/131511381/wipeout-when-your-company-kills-your-iphone

A few weeks ago, Amanda Stanton's iPhone suddenly went black.
She had been talking on it and navigating with a GPS app during a work trip to Los Angeles. Then, without any warning or error message, the phone quit.
Everything was gone — all her contacts, photos and even the phone's ability to make calls.
It was only after she got home to Silicon Valley that she found out that her phone had been killed by her employer, a publishing company.
Destruction Via E-Mail
Someone in the IT department had sent out what's called a "remote wipe," a kind of auto-destruct command that's delivered by e-mail. The wipe was done by mistake, and Stanton wouldn't have been surprised to see this kind of remote control on a company phone.
But this iPhone was hers.
"It was my account, in my name [and] I'd paid all the bills," Stanton says. "It didn't make any sense to me that somehow work could get through AT&T, who I thought controlled my phone, and could completely disable the phone and the account."
It's no surprise to people who know IT. Since 2003, a growing list of smart phones have come loaded with software from Microsoft that makes remote wipes — and many other remote-control commands — possible.
The phone doesn't need to download any new software. All that's necessary is for the phone's user to configure it to receive e-mail from a Microsoft Exchange Server — the kind most big companies use.
...

[TransformX]

androidlost can do similar things.

My work phone has a remote admin configured, my personal one does not.
Both are android, obviously.