<i>don&#x27;t use company owned equipment for personal reasons</i><p>It&#x27;s a bloody computer, not a backhoe. I know precisely nobody who has a computer at work that doesn&#x27;t at least check their mail on it.<p>Why companies feel they have to treat their employees as serfs in this matter is beyond my comprehension. Nor do I understand the mindset that treats a mail check as &quot;abuse&quot;.<p><i>Have you worked at a company which had different departments all using whatever they wanted?</i><p>Have you ever worked at a company which had an IT department that was so bureaucratic and slow moving that it prevented people getting actual work done? Your diatribe ignores the reason shadow IT springs up - because the &quot;official&quot; IT isn&#x27;t doing their job and providing decent services.<p>I&#x27;ve been on both sides of this. The old quote &quot;the harder you squeeze, the more slip through your fingers&quot; applies. Shadow IT means that things are being provisioned without official approval, not that there&#x27;s a policy allowing random things to be provisioned without approval.