In a large company, odds are there are a few rotten apples. No matter how rigorous the recruiting process, how thorough the background checks, a handful of these losers will sneak through the net. It’s just inevitable. They grouse and complain about their employers no matter how well they’re treated. They take sick days when they’re not sick. They abuse privileges. Given the opportunity, they can engage in criminal activity. And they don’t need the Internet to do any of it.

The case of three arrests in Atlanta yesterday should be instructive to companies implementing draconian policies to lock down their intranets and restrict the uses to which hard-working, honest employees put the company’s networks. Joya Williams, an administrative assistant to a high-ranking Coca-Cola executive, was arrested along with two others on charges of wire fraud and stealing Coke’s trade secrets, then trying to sell them to rival Pepsi-Co. How do federal prosecutors say Williams did it? By rifling through paper files and stuffing documents, along with a sample of a new Coca-Cola soft drink, into a personal bag. The offer to sell the items to Pepsi came in a letter in one of Coke’s official business envelopes, mailed through the U.S. mail.

Huge props go to Pepsi, which turned the evidence over to the feds. Dave DeCecco, a Pepsi spokesman, was quoted as saying, “Competition can sometimes be fierce, but also must be fair and legal.”

The point, though, is that locking down computer networks did not prevent Williams from doing what the feds claim she did. It’s not the networks; it’s the people. Most employees would never engage in illegal behavior or deliberately damage the company they work for. These employees can, in fact, produce even better work if given unfettered access to the Net. As for the ne’er-do-wells, they don’t need the Net to damage their employers, as the Coke case clearly shows.

So companies might as well loosen their restrictions so the vast majority of employees can take advantage of the resources available online, while dealing with the bottom feeders as a matter of exception.