{"id":103579,"date":"2019-09-26T15:10:15","date_gmt":"2019-09-26T13:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=103579"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:24:29","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:24:29","slug":"setting-detectives-loose-on-your-staff-is-that-actually-allowed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2019\/09\/26\/setting-detectives-loose-on-your-staff-is-that-actually-allowed\/","title":{"rendered":"Setting detectives loose on your staff \u2013 is that actually allowed?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Erasmus University\u2019s Executive Board has hired a private detective agency to investigate whether a member of ESHCC\u2019s staff has leaked to NRC Handelsblad<\/em>. Is that strictly legal? \u201cYes\u201d, says legal expert Arnoud Engelfriet, who specialises in IT law. EM has asked Engelfriet to review the university\u2019s IT regulations. \u201cIn fact, hiring a third party was the decent thing to do.\u201d Moreover, he doesn\u2019t rule out that the university is actually authorised under the regulations to have a look around on people\u2019s private devices \u2013 albeit in exceptional cases.<\/p>\n

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Campus<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTessa Hofland<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Last June, the NRC<\/em> claimed that former ESHCC dean Dymph van den Boom had plagiarised other people\u2019s work in several speeches. Van den Boom suddenly stepped down as dean shortly before the article in question was published. The Executive Board recently stated that it had \u2018received indications\u2019 that the source of these charges came from within EUR. It has hired an external research bureau to find out who was behind the leak \u2013 by browsing through staff members\u2019 e-mail correspondence, among other things. But is this actually allowed? According to the Executive Board, the legal basis for this step lies in EUR\u2019s regulations governing the use of internet and IT facilities<\/a>. After reviewing the regulations, legal expert Arnoud Engelfriet of the consultancy ICTRecht explains to us what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n\n\t

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