Streaming movies @ work = fired?

December 11, 2008 8:14 AM

I've been streaming movies and tv shows while at work. Is my job in jeopardy?

Let me say first that I am stupid.

I work at a university at a job I love, and for the past few months have streamed movies and tv shows to watch at work while I'm working. Some sites I've used are legit (I think - see question below), like Hulu and Netflix, but I've also used other sources, to find other movies at various sites. I assumed it was legal because it's so easy to find and access these movies. I know. Stupid.

I feel terrible about this misjudgment. I really love my job and now I'm afraid that my hard work and professional relationships could really be damaged by this. Also, I don't want to make any enemies within the information technology department. I have to work with them often, and I've been careful to rebuild bridges with them that had been burned by the person who held my position before me.

The paranoia is settling in. I have some questions.

. I'm thinking that Hulu, Netflix and other network sites are legal, but asking here just to make for absolute sure.

. Am I screwed for real? Is it just a matter of time before legal letters are sent, and these viewings traced to me? How closely is this stuff typically monitored? I'm guessing that students probably do this a lot. Can it be traced to my office/building?

. If I use something like CCleaner, will this help? I'm also going to clear my Google Desktop Timeline. Anything else I can do? Besides work on my multi-tasking habits, obviously.

Thank you, Hive Mind.

posted by anonymous to technology (16 comments total)

I think people will care more about you wasting of time at work watching videos than the actual legality of doing so.

But to answer your questions:

- Yes, Hulu and Netflix are legal.

- No, you are not screwed for real. The legal focus is on the operators of those online video sites because they're the ones "distributing" copyrighted content. That's why people who get music and video on Bittorrent are sometimes sued by the RIAA and MPAA: they're not just downloading, they're uploading and therefore "distributing" or "making available." When using online streaming sites you are not uploading and will likely escape legal scrutiny. There may be some exceptions like if a site requires the Octoshape plugin but they're rare. In any case, if someone actually cared that you were downloading, it could be traced to your very computer only with the cooperation of the university's IT staff. Some institutions are willing to answer RIAA and MPAA subpoenas; some respect their students' and staff's privacy and are not.

- Sure, something that cleans out your browsing history will remove the evidence on your computer that you watched videos. The IT people at the university undoubtedly have access to traffic logs that at least show a fair amount of bandwidth going to your workstation.
posted by zsazsa at 8:31 AM on December 11, 2008

Hulu and Netflix are perfectly legal, yes. Other sites, well, you'd have to be more specific, but I doubt it. Did they look legit?

Yes, they could trace it if they wanted to, but I doubt they'd ever take the time to do it. I'm sure you're fine. After all, I've been doing things that aren't entirely legal on a school network for almost two years. So does everyone else.

I wouldn't worry about the legality of it so much as I would worry about being allowed to be watching the movies while working. Make sure that's ok with your supervisor or whoever before doing it again.
posted by InsanePenguin at 8:34 AM on December 11, 2008

Well, I work technology in a university enrollment department, and basically everyone here has what is clearly pirated music on their PCs. We don't really care. Has anyone actually gotten on your case about this?
posted by nasreddin at 8:34 AM on December 11, 2008

I'm thinking that Hulu, Netflix and other network sites are legal, but asking here just to make for absolute sure.

Yes, Hulu, Netflix (you even pay for that one, right?), ABC.com, NBC.com, etc are all legit.


With that out of the way, I'm a little confused about what your question is. I expected to read a more inside explaining something along the lines of your boss discovering you spend your days watching The Monkees reruns instead of crunching numbers, but instead you seem to be concerned about... the MPAA hunting you down? ...the FBI showing up and arresting you? Not sure. Unless you left your usage of IllegalTVtorrents.com off the list, you haven't been doing anything that could get you in trouble. With regards to movie piracy, anyway. (IANAL)
posted by niles at 8:37 AM on December 11, 2008

As an employer at a university, I would be much more angry about time wasted watching tv at work than the legalities of where said tv came from.

Really, I don't care much so long as the job gets done, but other supervisors may. I'm only really forced to care when other departments notice an employee watching videos while they work and start to kvetch.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 8:40 AM on December 11, 2008

The most likely reason someone would get on your case is that you are sucking up bandwidth. Don't use bittorrent or IRC. Don't watch any porn. You'll be fine unless they are strict about non-work internet use.
posted by Saucy Intruder at 8:45 AM on December 11, 2008

I'd be more worried about the bandwidth you're sucking up than anything else.

You can forget the paranoia about past actions, but I'd knock it off with the streaming video in the future. That's far more likely to annoy the IT department than anything else.
posted by tkolar at 9:00 AM on December 11, 2008

Has anyone said anything to you about it, or are you just panicking without any threat of action?

If it's the latter, just stop going to the questionable sites.
posted by fructose at 9:09 AM on December 11, 2008

Unless someone has said something to you, you can likely clean-up and stop this behavior, become good at your job, and all will be well.

I watch 2-3 shows or a movie everyday while at work, but I bring a personal laptop and do not give it my full attention.
posted by nmabry at 9:10 AM on December 11, 2008

the big thing where i work, other than the actual time wasted, is the bandwidth. it's not cheap.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 9:31 AM on December 11, 2008

Check the TOS agreement at your U. They usually very clearly lay out guidelines for appropriate and inappropriate use of network resources. If you are breaking these rules, stop.
posted by caution live frogs at 10:04 AM on December 11, 2008

Former system admin here:

1. Quit worrying.

2. Netflix and Hulu are perfectly legal. Don't worry about copyright.

3. If the IT department had a problem with this, I think you would know by now. They might keep logs of the traffic but there's no real reason to go back and analyze them to check up on you. It's more pain than it's worth to monitor network usage that closely, unless the bandwidth is bottlenecking, and that's something you check as it's happening.

4. Admins aren't really interested in being computer police. You'd be surprised how many people spend all damn day on Youtube. That's a problem with managers not watching what their people are doing. It's not the network tech's job to make sure the staff is working. It's their job to make the computers work. That said, dammit, it is a bit annoying to have someone sucking all your bandwidth all day, and we might pick out the worst cases and say something. While it's happening.

5. Management may come down and ask us to watch an employee's Internet usage if there's productivity problems. If you've been written up or something, somebody might be watching. None of this sounds like your case. A university's bandwidth can suck up quite a bit of slackers watching movies or answering questions on AskMe.

5. See #1. Just don't watch any more movies at work. Watch Youtube occasionally. Life goes on.
posted by dosterm at 10:10 AM on December 11, 2008

I'd agree with others here that it sounds like you are over-worrying. I was a sysadmin in a K-12, along with a few other large corporate settings. My experience has been that sysadmins have relatively little interest or time to spend tracking down joe-blow goofing off in his cube watching videos. (I've also worked for an ISP, and the only copyright infringement notices we've ever gotten were for people Torrenting things. I dont think I've ever seen one for someone streaming movies over HTTP)

If it was me... here are the things I would be worried about: (in no particular order of importance)

1.) Goofing off while you should be working. (IE = boss walks past your cube 1 time to many noticing you watching videos instead of working)

2.) Sucking up to much bandwidth. No way for us (MetaFilter) to judge this because we have no way of knowing how much bandwidth you have, OR if your IT Department actively monitors bandwidth usage. I've been in environments with no monitoring at all, and I've also been in environments where we had high-end realtime hardware monitoring device where I could run reports and see EXACTLY which Users/Computers were using bandwidth (and update the block/deny lists in real-time)

If you are worried about your job.. then cut it out and have the self discipline to knuckle-down on working. We (sysadmins) dont really care if you spend x% of your day doing personal things on the internet. Unless he's a tightass, your boss probably doesnt care either up until you start impacting your work or effecting your coworkers because you are sucking all the bandwidth.
posted by jmnugent at 1:54 PM on December 11, 2008

Yes, your job is in jeopardy. You're watching movies instead of working. Unless it's a job where you have lots of slack time, they have a reasonable expectation that you will be productive.

If you use bit torrent, you are sharing out files. If the file is copyrighted, you may get noticed. The University gets a notice that copyrighted work was shared, and they will generally be able to know who shared it. This would be bad for your job. The IT Dept. and your boss will not be impressed.

If you use Limewire or another filesharing software, you might be able to configure it so you're not filesharing, but Limewire usually brings in spyware and other crapola, so the same scenario may apply.

If you have pals in IT, ask if bandwidth is a concern. Ask if there's a restriction on using Hulu; if you do have the time. It's a fair question, and you're asking because youtube is a good way to pass a slow night on call at the dorm, but you don't want to misuse the network. Also, your school will almost certainly have an acceptable use policy; find it and read it.

Most IT staff love to use bandwidth on all the great content out there, and will appreciate an end user who is honest and trying to do the right thing.

Porn at work is generally completely unacceptable, unless you have a really bulletproof research reason, and that's unlikely.
posted by theora55 at 2:37 PM on December 11, 2008

A colleague at the previous college I worked at did something similar. He ended up getting a warning because of the bandwidth issue. He then stopped doing it. As far as I know, he still works there.
posted by domi_p at 3:33 PM on December 11, 2008

I agree with most or all of the comments here. I think it's a fairly trivial offense particularly if you've been meeting the majority of expectations for the job. I want to point something else out though...

I feel terrible about this misjudgment. [...] The paranoia is settling in.

You have an ethical / moral dilemma and you're unsure how to resolve it. Perhaps the only way to clear this up is to make an apology. I recommend not going about covering your tracks. Confront your first-in-line boss and tell her "I've wasted time watching some things on netflix and hulu. I apologize if this violates any policy. I don't intend to do it again. " Don't specify the amount of time, don't specify what you've watched, just apologize for the principle.

This does a few things (maybe more) 1) Frees you of the burden of guilt (without confessing to high crimes) 2) Even if someone is out to get you for this you've placed it in the clear with your boss 3) Offers some experience for dealing with larger, more heinous mistakes you may encounter in the future 4) Puts you in a positive, honest light at your place of work and now you must keep it there.

But this may be over-reactionary. Weigh it over, give it a little time but not too much. Perhaps discuss with some close peers. I'm offering this advice in a more general context, not specifically for the viewing/accessing of whatever material during work time.

Lastly, I just want to say I'm very bitter at the entertainment industry for their reaction to the modern portability and ubiquity of digital audio/video. By no means am I suggesting that you assume some fearful position for accessing or enjoying online material.
posted by ezekieldas at 7:10 AM on December 17, 2008