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Lets assume there is a piece of software I would love to use while programming at work. My company will not buy it (or it will take months before it goes through bureaucratic wall).

Can I purchase it for myself, and then use at workplace, or would that violate law?

Edit:

I think in my case the best answer would be to make sure it is legal with both company policy and software EULA (in case of not clear - ask company directly).

In my case the software (which was a GIT client) ended up being perfectly fine to be used on company computers as long as it is me using it :)

feetwet
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internetofmine
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4 Answers4

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it would violate law?

It would be very dependent of what your jurisdiction is and what the software does. I would expect most software that would be lawful to install at your home would be lawful to install at your company, but there may be exceptions.

To put an hyperbolic example, if you work at the CIA and you install some remote access software that allows you to access your workstation from a non-secure PC through non-secure methods, I am pretty sure that would be illegal, even if you had the best of intentions.

A recent scenario taken from real life involves some members an organization who are required to use official e-mail servers for FOIA purposes setting up their own private mail servers.

Of course, YMMV.

can I purchase it for myself, and then use at workplace

Even if the software is legal it does not mean that it is ok to use it at the workplace. Most business have rules about what software may be installed in the PCs, who may install it and how to manage it.

Your software could introduce security vulnerabilities that your IT team may need to be aware of, or incompatibilities with other software. It may introduce legal liabilities (you install a "home edition" licence in a corporate environment where that licence is invalid).

Your company may discipline you if you breaking those guidelines and install software without authorization, even if there is no harm for them for this action. On top of that, if your actions cause some damage to the company, it can sue you to get you to pay for those damages.

Before taking any action you should inquiry about your company's IT policy and, if your company does not have one or if the policy is not clear about allowing you to install the software, ask the people in charge (preferably in writting).

SJuan76
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Adding to @SJuan76's answer:

Company policy aside, most if not all software will have a licence that will include its terms of use. These will often differ between personal use and commercial use as mentioned by @brian-leishman. You should find the licencing terms for the software in question and check whether they allow you to use it for commercial purposes. It would also be prudent to speak to someone in legal at your company so that they can confirm whether or not you can use it from both a legal and company policy standpoint.

An example of different licencing can be found with IDEA's IntelliJ IDE (Ultimate edition). There is a commercial licence, and a personal licence. The commercial licence is for when your organisation wants to buy licences. The personal licence can be used for organisational use, but not if the company has paid for it or compensated you for the cost of purchasing it yourself. There is also a community edition that is free for any use, but has fewer features. This demonstrates the importance reviewing the licence and terms of use.

feetwet
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J Lewis
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If you know for sure that your company will not allow the use of the software, then you cannot use it because an employee is oblige to follow the order of the employer. You can ask your in-charge about the permissibility of using the software, it he permits, go ahead.

Md. Kamrul Hossain
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In the US, there would be two laws to be concerned with, copyright law (which would depend upon the license of the software) and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (which basically makes it a felony to piss off someone that owns a computer that you use, interact with, or are near).

If the terms of your license allow it, talk to your supervisor and see about getting permission to install it on your computer at work. If you don’t get permission, don’t do it.

jmoreno
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