Protecting Illegal Material?

Filed in archive Opinion on April 21, 2007

Most IT managers handle huge volumes of data that are not always easy to sort through or monitor closely. How sure are you that the data you store does not contain someone else's copyrighted material? While some storing of copyrighted material falls under fair use laws, what if you had an employee or a group of employees who were illegally downloading and storing music, movies, games and the like?

Consider 24-year-old Sam Kuonen, who has just pleaded guilty to in a federal court on charges of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement and criminal copyright infringement in violation of the Family Entertainment Copyright Act. Sam is one of five people charged in a peer-to-peer network-based piracy ring. He faces up to $250,000 in fines and three years of what amounts to house arrest.

How sure are you that your employees are not sharing in the same manner? While it's true that most illegal activity can be caught by the savvy IT manager, things can go unnoticed. Most companies employ P2P tools that can identify phishing or hacking, but what is there to guard against the potential loss caused by employees' illegal activity? How liable are you for the acts of your workforce? Check with your risk management department or your insurance company to find out how to cover for this loss. Most will offer an employee liability policy that protects in the event of misdeeds by employees.