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0 pointsdangus1mo ago0 comments

Does UPS have the right to know the location of its drivers?

Of course it does.

I don’t know that we can draw broad conclusions about worker rights on this issue.

My company probably DOES need to know that I’m not taking company information to certain locations like overseas if I work in certain industries like if I am in healthcare covered by HIPAA and I’m handling PHI.

Hyperbolic example, but if I’m taking a teams call or reading my email in North Korea, that is a gigantic problem.

Right to privacy doesn’t exist inside of employer apps and company devices, and there isn’t a strong argument that it should exist.

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ilinx1mo ago

I would argue that UPS has the right to know the location of its packages and trucks, but not its drivers. If a driver has to leave for a few hours for a family emergency, UPS no longer has the right to track that driver, as long as they are not using company equipment for travel.

jodrellblank1mo ago

> "Of course it does."

Of course it doesn't. (What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence).

> "there isn’t a strong argument that it should exist."

Did you google for anything on this topic? Did you set a timer for 5 minutes and spend some time trying hard to think of one? Did you look at other countries and their regulations (e.g. Germany?[1]) and why they ended up that way?

[1] https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/employee-monitoring-in-ger...

dangusOP1mo ago

It seems like your link isn’t even very supportive of your point: it doesn’t touch on the topic of location, and it affirms the rights of businesses to track business usage. The protections described in the article are mainly around business devices being used for personal use (e.g., I login to my personal email on my work laptop and send my friend a message - my company doesn’t have the right to read that message. Companies who want to avoid this issue must explicitly forbid occasional personal use).

abdullahkhalids1mo ago

Before computers and internet, a manager might have been allowed to take work files home to work on them. Or workers on the road, might have stacks of company files with them in their car.

How did companies enforce the worker not taking the files with them on their international trip? Just by punishment when it was discovered after the fact. Things worked fine. It was good enough.

There is no need for additional surveillance, just because computers and internet can be used to do it.

jen201mo ago

> Right to privacy doesn’t exist inside of employer apps and company devices

Indeed, but the right of an employer to have you carry their device outside of their building also doesn't exist.

loloquwowndueo1mo ago

UPS has a right to know the location of their trucks.

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