internet activity monitoring and surveillance

T

the_inspector

Hello,

Can my employer easily find out my email passwords, brokers account numbers and passwords, any documents that I may have opened etc???

Anyway to find out if ones activities are being monitored?

Thanks
 
yes with the right programs they sure can, pretty easily. iv'e been out of the loop for a while so i'm not sure what it takes to counter surveil their snooping these days but from past experience, it can be fairly difficult without extensive knowledge of hacking techniques and programs. i always assume everything i do on any computer network is being watched.
 
Yep they have software that will show everything you are doing in real time if they want to. My friend got busted for looking at monster.com while at work. Later, when he was friends with the IT guy he told him that a tip off to an employee they are being watched is there cursor will move without them moving the mouse. No you can't put monitoring software on your computer unless they are stupid and don't lock down admin privledges. FYI they can also monitor your phone calls, unless you are using cell phone, without your knowledge. Be careful. :eek:
 
shouldn't employers notify employees that they are being monitored?

I regularly check my emails at lunch. I should suppose that my employer has my email account password and that he regularly reads my email????

Could one ask an employer if they are indeed monitoring employees and what what kind of monitoring they are conducting (real time, keyboard reading, logs, etc)?


Thanks
 
Quote from the_inspector:

shouldn't employers notify employees that they are being monitored?

I regularly check my emails at lunch. I should suppose that my employer has my email account password and that he regularly reads my email????

Could one ask an employer if they are indeed monitoring employees and what what kind of monitoring they are conducting (real time, keyboard reading, logs, etc)?


Thanks
More...

No if you read your contract, in fine print it says you agree to such practices. Also the laws in your state my impact to what degree your employer can spy on you.
 
Most employers of "white collar" employees have a policy allowing "reasonable" use of the employee's company provided computer. Somewhat similar to the use of your work phone for the occasional telephone call. Your employer can monitor your computer usage, content, etc., if they so desire. They can also open any mail addressed to you at the company address.

Phones are trickier because the party at the other end is involved.

Best thing to do is ask your supervisor/boss about personal email.

Jack
 
Check your company Internet usage policy. No, they will not log your password for yahoo or gmail account. Unless they are looking for potential lawsuit.
 
I used to be one of those IT guys who had the capability to monitor employee activities at a fortune 500 company. Most IT departments are stretched to the limit. It's likely they don't have the resources to monitor your activities on a random basis.

The only time we ever monitored is when there was a complaint where HR had to be involved (ie. porn, stalking, etc.). The IT folks don't need to monitor your screen to see what websites you've been to. All they have to do is check the log files of the proxy server (if they have one). If someone wanted to really see what you were up to, a key logger could be placed on your machine, but we never did that.

Best practice is if you don't want your boss to know what you're doing, do it on your own pc with a some type of wireless connection to a cell tower, or a close by WAP that's not on the company's network, or wait till you're at home.




Quote from the_inspector:

shouldn't employers notify employees that they are being monitored?

I regularly check my emails at lunch. I should suppose that my employer has my email account password and that he regularly reads my email????

Could one ask an employer if they are indeed monitoring employees and what what kind of monitoring they are conducting (real time, keyboard reading, logs, etc)?


Thanks
More...
 
Back when I had many employees and workstations I used to have all activity monitored. It was very easy. After a month I found that on average most where wasting about 2 hours per day using thier computers for personal use. One guy was about 4 hours. That's the equivilent of stealing 25% of thier salaries from me. Cost the company 100s of thousands each year. Our stated policy was no personal use. I had a computer set up in the break area that was available during lunch hours for those who chose to use it. Hardly anyone ever did. In the beginning I confronted a few people about the problem but that became a hassle and lead to bad feelings and to the loss of at least one good earner but my thought is stealing is stealing ... bye. After about 2 months and coming to the realization that my valued employees who smiled and shook my hand every day had no problem screwing me over I took a different approach. Upon boot up all terminals would flash this simple message ...

THIS WORKSTATION IS FOR CONDUCTING COMPANY BUSINESS ONLY. ALL PERSONAL USE IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN WITHOUT MANAGEMENT'S APPROVAL. ALL ACTIVITY ON THIS WORKSTATION IS MONITORED. MISUSE IS GROUNDS FOR DISMISSAL.

Since that day I no longer had to point the finger at anyone, productivity was up and the business was more profitable. For the record, the guy who was stealing 4 hours per day ended up quitting within 2 weeks of the pop up message. The gig was up and he found some other sucker to steal payroll from. We had a few people question our right to monitor activity but the fact is that there is no expectation of privacy using your companys computers or facilites, except the restrooms of course. As far as any info gathered - we never cared about passwords and such as we were not thieves ourselves. Perhaps in a large IT dept. someone might get tempted. Now if we found someone engaging in some type of illegal activities we would have turned them over to authorites in a heartbeat.
 
The last time I worked for someone else I used my own laptop. It was still their network, but they were hesitant to demand the same level of oversight of me that they did of others. They may have checked their server log seeing as how it was the same connection every day. As a previous poster pointed out though, IT doesn't have the time just to snoop. If there is no suspicious activity going on in the first place, then why bother.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top