Yes I understand it's not "my" machine, but it's the dedicated machine my system runs on.

That someone would let an agent run on it at any time, read what's there, and possibly modify the code or interrupt a process, without even informing me, is what I find problematic, to say the least.

You don't have intrusion detection / auditing setup?

Did you read the "emergency and temporary" part?

Have claude build you one :)

What good would such a thing do when the anointed gatekeepers (ie IT) have explicitly granted access to the transgressors? The scenario you're responding to here amounts to corporate slapstick.

That's a geography error on your part. Humans in the EU have an expectation of privacy even on work-issued devices.

I also work in the EU and privacy on company's machine is a more complex topic that's case by case dependent.

The employer can't enter your machine to look at your personal info just because they feel like it, but they can access it for work related reasons to access work related info, if they have just cause.

Claiming the employer in the EU has no right to access your machine is plain false. It's the company's machine, on the company's network, inside the company's premises, it can definitely access it for a business use case. Now if you happen to put your private info there because you're sloppy, then it's on you. How hard is it to avoid putting personal info on company property?

I have "my" office at the university.

I expect that I can be relocated to another office with a month of advance notice. Also cleanup, fire security check and fixing water leakage while I'm not there.

I don't expect that someone else will provide the keys of "my" office to the biology department when they have to keep a few sheeps during the weekend.

The image of a bunch of sheep pooing all over your office while you are not watching is the best metaphor I've heard for AI agents in a long time!