Computer surveillance in the workplace

Computer surveillance in the workplace refers to the issues related to the element of employee monitoring

Employee monitoring

Employee monitoring refers to any method of tracking what an employee does while at work. This may include the use of video cameras, keystroke logging, email filters, or even just watching or listening to the employee. As a result of increased technology, this has become a very important issue in...

and workplace surveillance

Workplace surveillance

Businesses use workplace surveillance as a way of monitoring the activities of their employees. Today's businesses often use information technology in their operations and communications. Business leaders have concerns related to employee misuse of available technologies. Technology appropriate use...

in which an employer engages in actively monitoring the usage of a company owned computer

Computer

A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...

or terminal

Computer terminal

A computer terminal is an electronic or electromechanical hardware device that is used for entering data into, and displaying data from, a computer or a computing system...

by an employee.

Computer surveillance may also refer to the use of computers to assist in monitoring more traditional security applications like video surveillance using Closed-circuit television

Closed-circuit television

Closed-circuit television is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors....

or IP camera

IP camera

An Internet protocol camera, or IP camera, is a type of digital video camera commonly employed for surveillance, and which unlike analog closed circuit television cameras can send and receive data via a computer network and the Internet...

based systems.

Computer Usage

Based on the technology and methods used, computer monitoring can track all activity or a specific type of activity on a company computer or terminal and can monitor devices installed on the computer (e.g., web cameras and microphones).

Tools used for monitoring employee computer usage incorporate one or more of the following types of monitoring:

Screen monitoring can incorporate video or static images detailing the contents, or screen capture, of the entire [video display] or the content of the screen activity within a particular program or computer application. This monitoring can collect realtime video, accelerated or [time-lapse] video or screenshots, or can take video or still image captures a regular interval (e.g., once every 4 minutes), collect all information, or collect information when the user is at the machine (e.g., capturing screens when the mouse or keyboard is active).
Data monitoring can track the content and changes to files stored on the local [hard drive] or in the user's "private" network share.
Keystroke monitoring (e.g., number of keystrokes per minute) has been used to track the performance of keyboard intensive work such as word processing or data entry. Keystroke logging
Keystroke logging
Keystroke logging is the action of tracking the keys struck on a keyboard, typically in a covert manner so that the person using the keyboard is unaware that their actions are being monitored...

captures all keyboard input to enable the employer to monitor anything typed on the monitored machine.
Idle time monitoring can be used to track time when the employee is away from the computer or the computer is not being actively used.

Internet

Internet surveillance is the monitoring of Internet data traffic, web access, and other online activity. This may include monitoring any Internet traffic including encrypted web browser traffic on Secure Socket Layer (SSL) connections, personal web-based email, and personal banking sites.

Web
Email
Instant Messaging

Legality

This type of monitoring is generally allowed where the employer owns the computers, terminals, network, and Internet access. Depending on the country or legal jurisdiction and the specific methods of surveillance used, there may be additional requirements to notify the employee of the monitoring or monitoring policy to be legal.

Labor union contracts and other forms of employment agreements may offer some protection from monitoring. Additionally, in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, public sector employees may have some protection under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution

Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution

The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the Bill of Rights which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures, along with requiring any warrant to be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause...

. Employees in California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

may have additional protection under specific portions of state statue.

Employers may be required to maintain documentation of emails and other communications for regulatory or compliance purposes. The monitoring of email and instant messaging communications may be part of these requirements.

Some software used for this type of surveillance may impose additional restrictions or notification requirements based on their End User License Agreement (EULA). For example, Spectorsoft

SpectorSoft

SpectorSoft is a software manufacturer that develops and sells stealth computer surveillance tools and spyware.-Products:Spector Pro – Monitoring software that is capable of recording virtually all computer and Internet activity on the Windows PC on which it is installed.Spector Pro for Mac –...

requires that employees have signed a contract stating that their computer activity may be monitored when they were employed. Additional legal issues may arise if information obtained from the monitoring is used for illegal or malicious purposes.

Perception

In organizations without stated computer usage or monitoring policy, employees typically use the company computer at their respective discretion and, in most cases, there may be no visible restrictions or monitoring of the activities performed on this computer. The use of computer surveillance within the employee discipline or evaluation process may be seen by employees as an invasion of privacy or a lack of trust.

Benefits

Protection of Intellectual Property
Data theft deterrence and protection
Protection of confidential, client, and/or employee information
Increased productivity
Decreased risk for liabilities associated with inappropriate web or Internet usage (e.g., malware, adult content, computer virus, etc.)

Criticism

Monitoring may be subject to additional laws and restrictions
Monitoring of computer usage may lower employee morale
Employees may consider computer surveillance
Computer surveillance
Computer surveillance is the act of performing surveillance of computer activity, and of data stored on a hard drive or being transferred over the Internet....

to be a breach of their personal privacy
Monitoring or using the results of monitoring for employee reviews or evaluations may affect performance or productivity in a negative way

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.