Internet theft conviction unlikely to open floodgates

A man who downloaded music videos and pornography on his work computer has been convicted of theft from his employers.

However, Business NZ said the conviction was unlikely to open the floodgates for employers annoyed by employees' private internet use.

Daniel Davies, 40, who was sacked from his job at Poster Faktory for his actions, was found guilty at the Whangarei District Court yesterday of theft.

He was convicted and ordered to pay $130 court costs, despite protests from his lawyer that the penalty was too harsh for the crime.

Davies' lawyer, David Grindle, said the theft was similar to an employee using a company telephone for a personal call or a company car for personal use after work hours.

He asked Judge John McDonald for a discharge without conviction, saying a conviction would be a barrier to Davies' new job as an alarm technician. "The consequences of a conviction are out of all proportion to the gravity of the offences."

However, Judge McDonald declined, saying the offending was theft from the employer, and serious.

Poster Faktory owners Ian and Yvonne Clapperton agreed.

Mrs Clapperton said the case was more complicated than an employee simply looking at the internet during work - "we have no problem with that". Davies had been warned about downloading on the company computer but continued to do so anyway, she said.

His actions came to her attention when Telecom called her to say the monthly internet budget had been blown on music downloads.

Mrs Clapperton said Davies was told that downloading music on the company computer was not acceptable. His office key was confiscated so he could not return at night to use the computer.

After that incident Davies contacted Telecom, saying he was an authorised user, she said. He was given access to monitor how much internet access was being used. She said he increased the limit then monitored it each month, downloading music and pornography but stopping just before the limit was reached so it did not come to anyone's attention.

When the Clappertons were tipped off that Davies was preparing to leave they checked his computer and found a history file that showed what he had been up to.

Upon learning that he had also downloaded company databases that had taken years to build up, Mrs Clapperton went to the police.

She said her staff were aware of what was acceptable computer and internet use and Davies had clearly breached that.

"We are not tough employers by any means - he had been unemployed and we'd given him a job and built it up. He even used to stay in our home.

"He was in a position of trust and he abused it, quite knowingly."

Business NZ chief executive Phil O'Reilly said most employers and employees appeared to understand of what was reasonable private internet use on work computers.

However, the court had sent a good message to employers about what they could do with employees who exceeded that.

"It's an issue of reasonableness really," he said.

If employees spent an excessive amount of time using the internet for private purposes, they not only cost the company money in terms of bandwidth, but their performance was also likely to suffer, Mr O'Reilly said.