Captain Bligh

The answer: Your iPad is for company use and your laptop and cellphone are for personal use. Never shall the two (personal and company) meet. But we all know it's not that simple. As an example dispatchers and schedulers have called my personal cellphone rather than the passenger loading bridge phone, while I was sitting in the cockpit on many occasions.

A recent logicboard failure left me without a laptop for the past few weeks while it's being repaired. On more than one occasion, I'd muddied the waters and used the new company issued T-mobile G4 capable device for personal emails (went so far as to temporarily add an account) web surfing, map navigation, some family event photos and even participation on this forum. It started the wheels turning again about all the original reasons I'd never previously done any of the above. I think some discussion on the topic might help allay fears and/or reinforce boundaries, but I really want to know what you think or have experienced. Or if there is even corporate policy that applies.

First I read a few forums on corporate mobile device management. You may recognize this term from the abbreviation MDM. Of cource there is software out there that can spy and report every mouse movement, but is that really what the company wants to spend their efforts on? Let's talk about the fringe stuff like:

1). Can the company view those emails to and from that temporary account I set up while my laptop's down for repairs?

2). Can they retrieve or monitor real time, browser use, particularily if you're not on a company WiFi spot, but instead at a hotel or a Starbucks? For that matter would they even care?

3) Can they pull geo-data from photos you take simply because they are in the library on your iPad? One step further, can they access geo-data from photos you receive via email and then save?

4). Can they access or activate the camera remotely?

5). Can they track location contiually or historically?

6). Do they care if you use FD Pro to go fly a trip in your buddy's Lear 55?

7). Can they figgure out if you've used features below 10,000'?

I know the answer to all of the above is YES, but really, how strict is your personal use policy and does it mesh with expected and allowed corporate policy?

trip

Will they be able to contact you and notify you of pending trip changes or reflows via IPAD?

82spukram

AT the end of the day the question is why would The company track your usage. Simple answer when they need some dirt on you because you have become a problem child for them...iPad is simple way (air watch) to dig it up. When they try to fire an employee they build a case.... Give them as little as possible.

82spukram

Sorry about the lack of grammar. Worked a red eye last night and have only had 2 hours sleep in the last 30 hours.

Captain Bligh

8) You call in fatigued because you haven't slept much, but at the review hearing, the company presents evidence that you were using your iPad not trying to sleep?

Captain Bligh

how about:

9). You fly a segment with out of date FD Pro data or forgot to update content locker after a long vacation?

Probe

Americans (and Europeans) are protected by a lot of privacy laws. I doubt anything you have personal done, without your prior consent or knowledge, would be admissible.

Out of date pubs? Maybe.
Using company data plan to download kiddy porn? Almost certainly.

Tracking where you are, like a Lear 55? Most likely not.
Turning the camera on? Not without a court order.
Checking email? Probably not and that would not allow them access to your personal email inbox without a court order.

Unless the company had us sign a disclosure statement saying they can use all the capabilities of the device to monitor us, they can't. Neither could law enforcement, without a court order.

Does that mean the amateurs on Wanker Drive wouldn't try something? I can't answer that.

Toonces

Simple answer: just stop everything right now. The iPad is for company use. Don't use it for anything but an EFB, or other authorized used as designated in official correspondence. Use your own device for anything personal, even company related correspondence.

Our company has ipad EFBs and they stay in the plane for our entire trip. We just check to make sure company manuals and charts are up to date.


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baseball

I do believe that technically speaking the company could do all that inspector Clusoe stuff.

On the other hand, if pilot land finds out that the company is in fact doing that, allot of company Ipads are going to be accidentally broken and/or left on airplanes, and management can spend additional time and money chasing down crews and/or repairing them.

I've seen a few ipads get cracked screens down by the seat tracks in the pit.

Captain Bligh

I tend to agree, but just not 100% realistic. They seem to have actually encouraged personal use by adding white list apps that clearly have nothing to do with EFB function. The lines are smeered for many reasons: A union app? Apple's refusal to offer the device without full functionality? We could go on and on.

Many of us learned the hard way that using personal devices and personal email accounts for company business is also not always a good idea. This was fully demonstrated when a chief pilot's email list was compromised. No thanks, this is bad advice. I'll use the company iPad and company email address for company correspondence from now on.