Confiscated personal belongings

Sir/Mam,

I just want to ask about this matter, My ipod touch was confiscated by the security guard of my company that I worked for, The item was confiscated friday so they told me that they will return that after investigation if there's any company data that was saved in ipod touch. But until monday they said they are not yet finished with the investigation, But I want my ipod back, Is it proper or legal of what they are doing that they hold my ipod until the investigation that they are saying is done?

Please give info regarding this matter.

Thank you

By what authority did they confiscate your ipod? Are you being charged in your company for any infraction? If the the answer is in the negative, the confiscation is illegal.

I am not so sure but your employer could be liable for violation of Article 290 of the Revised Penal Code which provides:

“Art. 290 Discovery of secrets through seizure of correspondence. – The penalty of prision correccional in its minimum and medium periods and a fine not exceeding 500 pesos shall be imposed upon any private individual who in order to discover the secrets of another, shall seize his papers or letters and reveal the contents thereof.

If the offender shall not reveal such secrets, the penalty shall be arresto mayor and a fine not exceeding 500 pesos.”

The electronic documents stored in your ipod may be a functional equivalent of an original document under the E-Commerce Act and thus may be considered as falling under the term “paper or letters”. To be liable under this provision, however, the seizure of papers or letters must be made “in order to discover the secrets of another.” The intent therefore must, first and foremost, be the discovery of secrets.


It could also be possible that your employer be held liable for Damages for violation of Article 26 of the Civil Code, viz:

“Art. 26. Every person shall respect the dignity, personality, privacy and peace of mind of his neighbors and other persons. The following and similar acts, though they may not constitute a criminal offense, shall produce a cause of action for damages, prevention and other relief:

1.Prying into the privacy of another’s residence;
2.Meddling with or disturbing the private life or family relations of another;
3.Intriguing to cause another to be alienated from his friends;
4.Vexing or humiliating another on account of his religious beliefs, lowly station in life, place of birth, physical defect, or other personal condition


I believe that the act of your employer in "intruding" into the contents of your ipod (under the guise of monitoring possible company data saved therein), although not one among those enumerated in the above-quoted provision, may fall under term “similar acts”. I am not aware of any available Philippine jurisprudence yet on this issue.

first see what you company's policy is on electronic storage devices. a company has the right to protect its electronic data, and it's been far to often that these devices are used to store unauthorized data such as credit card information.

the test for how long they can detain your ipod touch is reasonableness. i believe 1-3 days should be enough for any decent tech guy to look through it.

send a written demand to give it back with cc to your higher-ups.

Sir/Mam First of all I want to say thank you for all the response.
Regarding company policy, Base on employees handbook this is the policy.

“All recordable equipment/media in any form are not allowed to be brought inside. CDs,MP3 Players, Camcorder, Recorder, USB, Camera and all equipment with similar capacity to record shall not be permitted to be carried inside. Company shall not be issuing, providing and/or purchasing any USB memory sticks and/or items with portable memory capacity storage for any personnel in Company. Company shall be retrieving and controlling all previously issued USB to employees.”

I can't find any other policy in the employees handbook about confiscating, But they show me some documents that was signed and approved about that policy, But they admit that it was not included in employees handbook. For me it seems unfair, what if they just recently created that documents about that policy?

They confiscated my ipod because they want to investigate if I have any data that belongs to the company, And the thing is, they don't know how the ipod gets or saved data. Actually ipod can only get and download data through their own software which is ITunes. But if you use hacking software you can make the ipod like a FlashDrive, meaning you can just do a simple copy and paste of any file that you want. But i did not do this on my ipod because it will void my warranty to Apple Company.

There's another thing, You will notice this statement "All recordable equipment/media in any form are not allowed". I believed everyone have the same understanding on this one, That even Cellphones will not be allowed. But again they said cellphones are allowed and still not clearly written in employees handbook.

I already wrote a complaint letter to the management in demand for them to return my ipod. But they said, Since they dont know how to check the data in ipod and they dont have any capability to check it, They want me to bring my USB cable then I will be the one who will check it using ITunes after that procedure, they want all my data in ipod to be "Deleted" even if they will not found any company data inside my ipod. And again it was not written in employees handbook. And I think it against my rights.

Hoping for your response
Thank you very much

There you are. Now it appears that indeed there is a company policy violated. Please bear in mind that an employer is free to regulate, according to his own discretion and judgment, all aspects of employment, including hiring, work assignments, working methods, time, place and manner of work, tools to be used. Processes to be followed, supervision of workers, working regulations, transfer of employees, work supervision, layoff of workers and the discipline, dismissal and recall of workers.

Usually, when an employer states a policy regarding any issue in the workplace, including privacy issues, that policy is legally binding. Policies can be communicated in various ways: through employee handbooks, via memos, and in union contracts. Accordingly, the restriction embodied in your handbook is justified.

Be that as it may, the core issue now boils down into the reasonableness of the duration of the confiscation. I agree with Sir attyLLL that 1 to 3 days is sensible. Problem is they don't know how to check the data in your ipod thus they wanted you check it yourself so it might take a little bit longer. I suggest you comply to their directive.

However, i am quite disturbed with their request that all data in your ipod be likewise deleted even if they will not found any company data inside it. That's already going overboard! I suggest you object to it.

Regarding the cellphones, you should be grateful that at least these gadgets are allowed.

Sir thank you for the reply,

What if the company insist to delete the data in my ipod? Because I think they will not give me the ipod as long as I delete all the data.

Thank you

jin, did you purchase ALL these songs on itunes? i know you feel aggrieved, but maybe bending a bit backwards, considering you did violate a company policy, will be the best way to move forward.

sorry, my music player was purchased from cdr king. i'd have no trouble replacing the music.

Sir thanks for the reply,
i did not purchase any music in Itunes, but I did purchase application(games, tools) in Itunes using credit card.

I thought CDr King only sell disc

ohh, you have not been to cdr king for a long time. good luck.