BYOD: Time to Adjust Your Privacy Expectations

Brent Cossrow, a partner in the Philadelphia office, was quoted in the May 30 article "BYOD: Time to Adjust Your Privacy Expectations," which appeared on both PCWorld and CIO Magazine's websites. The article reported that BYOD ("bring your own device") is a growing trend for business IT. Allowing mobile workers to use their own electronic devices, such as iPhones and iPads, instead of company-issued mobile phones and computers can be a big cost saver. The risks involved, however, are that a wide range of protective policies, including confidentiality, non-disclosure, ethics, conflict of interest, and authorized use of computers could come into question. Brent noted: "The BYOD fact pattern isn't that dramatically different, and policies can be written to provide that type of protection for the employer. Given the business interest that could be in jeopardy, there are employers who would take a look at how their computers were used in a certain time period. If a BYOD policy was written in a certain way, it could provide support for that examination."