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being monitored at work....is it right?

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
So this week big brother has come to town where I work and it's some scary shit......I work for an ISP and basically what happened is some of the admin n00bs down at Brighton got caught filesharing because they didn't know how to cover their arse, and the company's using that as an excuse to roll out this software called Netintelligence that monitors everything you do, and when i say everything i mean Everything.......every application you use, every webpage you look at, how long you spent browsing it, it logs everything you say on msn, who you talked to, when, how long, it even takes screenshots everytime you click the mouse ffs its madness......

So there's a big hooha about the right of the company to do this, all we got was one email saying this was being rolled out, and we don't even know who has the rights to look at this info and under what circumstances, it's all pretty mysterious.........so what does everyone think, does the company have a right to invade my privacy like this, simply because i work for them? where do you draw the line....? i don't think the company is doing themselves any favours because the place has a high enough turnover, and all this shows is a complete distrust of the employees, hell if get the work done what does it matter if i chat to mate on msn, or make the odd post on a forum?........I might expect something like this at a bank or MoD, but not a shabby little ISP it seems uber intrusive........luckily I don't think they've paid the full package which includes screenshots as they're too cheap, so I'll probably be able to get around most of it using proxies and webmessenger, just posting this through a proxy now to test it out.......i'm not impressed though, bad enough i had to agree to urine/drug tests when I signed the contract, now they're just going overboard........and how long before this stuff becomes the norm at work? seeing as i.t. is the future and everyone will be using a pc before long, they might as well strap a cctv to my head and be done with it.......
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Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    well you are on their time, they are paying you, i think they have the right to do pretty much what they want without explaining it, obviously apart from watching you go to the loo or something daft.

    ETA: and if you are posting on works time now surely they have reasons to suspect people and implement this?? haha
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Judging by what I'm doing right now, yes it is acceptable. :p But no not really. Especially when it starts going into that level of detail. TBH, they will never actually look at this amount of detail, even if they have the capacity to do so, because it would take too much time. The only reason they'd ever look into more than just a list of websites you were on would be if you were committing fraud or passing on company information over the net, stuff like that.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    use Simp-Secway messenger and it encrypts your msn content so it cant be read without your password.. that sort of lets you use msn in private without big brother watching! ;)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Would you object in the same way if your boss was sat behind you looking over your shoulder at what you were doing?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    caenine06 wrote:
    use Simp-Secway messenger and it encrypts your msn content so it cant be read without your password.. that sort of lets you use msn in private without big brother watching! ;)


    Surely if they see encrypted data being transfered they would look into seriously...

    After I don't see the proble with being monitored as long as you do your job right there is no worries to have...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Kentish wrote:
    Would you object in the same way if your boss was sat behind you looking over your shoulder at what you were doing?

    no because he can't watch me 24/7 and when he does go past i just bring up work related shit......ok so i know i get paid to work, and if there's work to be done i'll go do it, but that's not always the case so what do they think i'm gonna do? stare blankly at the screen and pretend to be busy? the days would take forever.......

    cheers for the tip i'll check that simp-secway out, i don't think they'll be too fussed about encrypted traffic, like IWS said they don't have the manpower to sift through everything, i'm just worried they'll use it to find excuses to fire people they want rid of, not that i'm in that situation of course.......i just want peace of mind, like say i ask a mate on msn to get me some weed, i don't want that kind of thing on record......
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    no because he can't watch me 24/7 and when he does go past i just bring up work related shit......ok so i know i get paid to work, and if there's work to be done i'll go do it, but that's not always the case so what do they think i'm gonna do? stare blankly at the screen and pretend to be busy? the days would take forever.......
    They might expect you to use your initiative and seek out work to be done during quiet periods. If you are doing things on your work computer that you wouldn't want your boss to see over your shoulder then you probably shouldn't be doing them during working hours.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Many employers use automated systems to identify unacceptable Web usage, flagging up access to websites which are either on a ‘banned’ list, or judged by an automatic system to be a risk.

    Make sure you've read and understood your employer's policy on email and Web use. Talk to your workplace union rep if you have one, as they are likely to know of any cases or policies.

    If your employer doesn't have a policy yet, always assume the worst. Act cautiously, and ask your manager to clarify what personal use of email or the Web they will permit you.

    Remember that no email (not even a Web based e-mail service such as Hotmail or Yahoo! Mail) is ever totally secure. The only way to guarantee you are safely using email or the Web at work for personal purposes is to know that you are doing it within your rights for that workplace.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Most workplace internet usage is monitored, my bosses know that I'm on this now (its on my dinner hour, for the record).

    I don't see the fuss, really, you should already be operating within the firm's acceptable usage policy.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    You maybe upset at the way work are treating you but it's just the same as being online at home, everything you do on the Internet is recorded, doesn't matter if you use a proxy or not to view websites, traffic can still be sniffed etc.

    By the way, that Secway thing will only work properly if your friends have it installed as well. It would be no use either if your key strokes are being recorded as well.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
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  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    itl encrypt your outbound messages regardless of whether someone else has it. but as stated above if they are logging keystrokes, you might as well not bother and just get on with some work!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    caenine06 wrote:
    use Simp-Secway messenger and it encrypts your msn content so it cant be read without your password.. that sort of lets you use msn in private without big brother watching! ;)

    Do you think "they" don't know about this?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    caenine06 wrote:
    itl encrypt your outbound messages regardless of whether someone else has it. but as stated above if they are logging keystrokes, you might as well not bother and just get on with some work!

    perish the thought!.....nah i dont think they're logging keystrokes (but just in case - F**K YOU!)....i've come to the conclusion that i really don't care, if they want to fire me then fire me, they'll have to find some other sod to do the work and they won't get anyone as cheaply so their loss, im not gonna be here too much longer anyways, just beefing up the cv so it's all good......
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Surely they can't be allowed to log keystrokes, as this would enable them to steal passwords for private data and files?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    migpilot wrote:
    Do you think "they" don't know about this?

    They may well know about it, however they will still require your password to decrypt your msn messages!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    use on the fly encryption software
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    caenine06 wrote:
    They may well know about it, however they will still require your password to decrypt your msn messages!

    And if they say "we will sack you if you don't give it to us" - you say "the password was created randomly and it was to big for me to remember to I wrote it down, only problem is I used the bit of paper for roaches so I don't have it any more :(" - plausible denialability ;)


    Everyone should be using encryption, it's not just for geeks and criminals. I use www.truecrypt.com it's the best freeware encryption prog around.


    Where do you get that encryption MSN thing from, although one way encryption isn't a lot of good.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The systems are owned by your work, so it is right that they can monitor them.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The systems are owned by your work, so it is right that they can monitor them.

    :yes: They basically did this to us when I was at school as well. In one of the ICT rooms, they had a hidden camera to record everything. Don't really know what the point of that was, when the technicians can check what sites everyone's been on...:rolleyes:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Maybe everyone can stop fucking about on MSN or whatever when they are at work and actually do some work!!

    Sorry, just heard that in my head...
    Carry on.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Makoto wrote:
    Where do you get that encryption MSN thing from, although one way encryption isn't a lot of good.
    We use Gaim at work, which has public key encyption.

    We also encypt our email, using the enigmail extension to thunderird - again public key based
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Makoto wrote:
    plausible denialability ;).
    Deniable encryption - basically the same file holds multiple encrypted documents, but is big enough to hold more. Because you can't prove you;ve given them all the keys, there is little pressure to give them more than one - whatever they're going to do, they'te going to do anyway even after you;ve given them everything.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Of course they can do it - As Kentish said, if you wouldn't want your boss seeing you doing it over your shoulder then you shouldn't be doing it.

    Don't get me wrong, I'm in work now, and we have a very strict AUP, but very lax enforcement of it... there is a line there though.

    Bottom line is you are going to be more productive because of this software, unless you want to sit there bored looking at a blank screen.. so think of how much more professional and career driven you can be now ;) :thumb:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Bottom line is you are going to be more productive because of this software, unless you want to sit there bored looking at a blank screen.. so think of how much more professional and career driven you can be now ;) :thumb:

    :lol: if only that were the case.......i think it will actually have the opposite effect, i'll end up taking my sweet time instead of just zapping through the jobs as they come through my workflow, which means all the other departments will be waiting longer on me, and the company will be less productive as a whole.......at the minute all i'm hearing is praises because i get the job done fast and right, i worked my arse off last week to get this ofsted project delivered almost singlehandedly on time, i found out it's worth over £200k to the company so i think they're getting value for money out of my labour....this week things are a bit quieter so i think everything balances out......now if someone turns around and asks me why i spend time during work at thesite.org, i'll say "sorry i'll work a little slower next time"......
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    To be fair to the company, they have every right to expect you to be doing work stuff, rather than posting on thesite.org and chatting to your mates on MSN.

    If you're actually having to spend time on thesite, then maybe you don't have enough work.

    Either way I'm amazed that you think you should just be left to use the computers however you like.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Mist wrote:
    To be fair to the company, they have every right to expect you to be doing work stuff, rather than posting on thesite.org and chatting to your mates on MSN.

    If you're actually having to spend time on thesite, then maybe you don't have enough work.

    Either way I'm amazed that you think you should just be left to use the computers however you like.

    Totally agreed. The thing is, it's work time and not your own time. If you want to use the internet for non-work related stuff, do that in your own time.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    so i guess everyone posting on here during the day is a student or on the dole? please......
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i work for a nightclub, not always at work during the day
  • JsTJsT Posts: 18,268 Skive's The Limit
    No.

    I aren't allowed to browse the net when I like.

    If I were to I'd expect and would get a bollocking.
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