'Good' Spyware for Tracking Employees
I think a lot of us expect employers to monitor emails and block inappropriate content, it just seems like the norm these days. I don't have a problem with this, employers are responsible for and liable for too much to not know what is going on in their network. I haven't gotten used to the idea of "good" spyware for monitoring activity (one exception is when I did a project for the U.S. Army, I expected everything I did would and should be monitored). Take the case of a former employee of the University of British Columbia who was canned, in part, using data collected by employer installed spyware. Here a piece from The Province:
The University of B.C. wants the right to keep using "spyware" to monitor its employees' Internet use.And the university -- which used the software to fire a worker who surfed non-work-related websites for hours a day -- has gone to court to challenge an anti-spyware order by B.C.'s privacy commission.
Michel Mandono, an engineering technician in UBC's botany department, was fired in February 2005 for "repeated theft of time" as well as failure to perform his work, excessive lateness, dishonesty and breach of trust.
The use of spyware for internal monitoring may not be widespread now but I suspect as awareness grows about security threats from insider abuse, the practice of monitoring will grow.
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