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Guide to Slack import and export tools

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Re: Guide to Slack import and export tools

#51

Post by froindt »

mindcrime wrote: post #3
larrik wrote: post #2

Previously, you could only see employee DMs if you turned on Compliance Exports, at which point you could download all of them going forward . Now it sounds like everything you've ever written could be downloaded at any time without notice. So, all of those communications you had with co-workers based on the promise they would be private until you were notified future ones wouldn't be anymore? Now it's ALL available…

Meh. Nobody should be surprised by any of this in the slightest. If your employer provides / pays for any kind of communications tool, the only sane position is to assume that they can - and probably do - monitor every single byte you send.

I think there's some middle ground, some grey area where whether it's alright is murky. It's kind of pulling the rug out from under people when the policy of a 3rd party provider abruptly changes and suddenly tons of messages become available to the company.

There are a number of things I might mention to a coworker over a private IM which wouldn't necessarily put my employment at risk, but would be awkward for management to suddenly have access to.

A couple made up examples:

"I'm super sick, but $boss is really pushing me to get the report out. I just want to go home and be sick all alone."

"I hate management's decision to reduce vacation days. No wonder we can't keep people around here."

"Did you see Tom's email? It's kinda awkward that he thinks he's a strong contributor to the group..."

Re: Guide to Slack import and export tools

#52

Post by kerkeslager »

fjsolwmv wrote: post #26
kerkeslager wrote: post #11

This should not be surprising to anyone. You're giving your data to a corporation who has every incentive to give it to your employer. The only real surprise here is that they weren't doing this earlier.

That's backwards. You're working for an employer who has every responsibility to monitor business communication. Slack can't "give" something they were never supposed to control in the first place and only have by accident of architecture. This fixes an old bug.

> You're working for an employer who has every responsibility to monitor business communication.

Setting aside for a second the unusual ethics being proposed here: it's trivial to bypass official channels if you want to say something you don't want your employer to see. It's fairly standard practice to not put anything you don't want someone else to read in text at all, but rather to pick up the phone--it's too easy for someone to copy/paste a Slack message or Forward an email. This can't be a responsibility of employers because very few employers can live up to that responsibility.

Re: Guide to Slack import and export tools

#54

Post by EpicEng »

larrik wrote: post #2

Previously, you could only see employee DMs if you turned on Compliance Exports, at which point you could download all of them going forward . Now it sounds like everything you've ever written could be downloaded at any time without notice. So, all of those communications you had with co-workers based on the promise they would be private until you were notified future ones wouldn't be anymore? Now it's ALL available…

Then your mistake was having conversations you wouldn't like your boss to read using your company's internal messaging system. How is this any different than e.g. emails?

Re: Guide to Slack import and export tools

#55

Post by nkcmr »

I have never really understood the notion of needing communication privacy in the workplace. To be honest, without having seen this story, I would have assumed this was a feature of Slack already!

I can't remember where/when I heard this advice but it seems relevant and helpful for this matter:

"Write/speak all communication in the workplace as if the CEO themselves were CCd on the email."

It has served me well.

Re: Guide to Slack import and export tools

#57

Post by DuskStar »

dugluak wrote: post #49
darkstar999 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Without.

how is it legal. Even the law enforcement needs to provide a warrant in case they want to search my apartment.

They aren't searching your apartment. They're searching the office you use in their building.

Re: Guide to Slack import and export tools

#58

Post by IAmEveryone »

duxup wrote: post #23

I think if the employer provides the tool, it is their data. I know there are different traditions in other places where they consider something like work email to be more of an employee owned or privacy issues. I always thought that was a bit wonky and it is easier to identify who owns what by ... who owns it.

I may agree with result regarding Slack. But your argument doesn’t really work if you consider who owns a rented apartment, leased car, or company phone officially allowed to be used for personal matters.

Re: Guide to Slack import and export tools

#59

Post by simonswords82 »

dugluak wrote: post #49
darkstar999 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Without.

how is it legal. Even the law enforcement needs to provide a warrant in case they want to search my apartment.

Because the company you work for owns and pays for the platform you're using.

Just like they presumably own the computer you use, and any other platforms/equipment supplied so you can do your job.

Re: Guide to Slack import and export tools

#60

Post by dumbfounder »

Let's clarify a bit, this is for the employer owned Slack workspace. If you have the client and have your employer workspace and then another random workspace that is not owned by your employer, then they can only see the messages on the workspace owned by the company.

And this is meant for backups really, it's not going to be easy to just follow random conversations of yours on a daily basis. If they want to go back and dig up some dirt they can though.

That said, if you are worried about it, and working on a computer owned by your employer, you should just assume everything you do is logged. Because some do that.

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