Computer surveillance in the workplace is the use of computers to monitor activity in a
workplace
A workplace is a location where someone Work (human activity), works, for their employer or themselves, a place of employment. Such a place can range from a Small office/home office, home office to a large office building or factory. For Indust ...
. Computer monitoring is a method of collecting performance data which employers obtain through digitalised
employee monitoring
Employee monitoring is the (often automated) surveillance of workers' activity. Organizations engage in employee monitoring for different reasons such as to track performance, to avoid legal liability, to protect trade secrets, and to address other ...
.
Computer surveillance
Computer and network surveillance is the monitoring of computer activity and data stored locally on a computer or data being transferred over computer networks such as the Internet. This monitoring is often carried out covertly and may be comple ...
may nowadays be used alongside traditional security applications, such as
closed-circuit television
Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly t ...
.
Computer usage monitoring
Depending upon the technology and methods used, monitoring applications may track all activity or may target specific activities of employees on a company-owned computer or terminal. They may monitor various devices installed on the computer (e.g.,
web camera
A webcam is a video camera which is designed to record or stream to a computer or computer network. They are primarily used in videotelephony, livestreaming and social media, and security. Webcams can be built-in computer hardware or peripheral de ...
s and microphones). This includes not only recordings from these devices but also remote broadcasting of live feed from webcams and microphones.
Tools used for monitoring employee computer usage incorporate:
*Screen monitoring records video or static images detailing the contents, or screen capture, of the entire
video display
A display device is an output device for presentation of information in visual or tactile form (the latter used for example in tactile electronic displays for blind people). When the input information that is supplied has an electrical signal the ...
or the content of the screen activity within a particular program or computer application. Monitoring tools may collect real time video, accelerated or
time-lapse
Time-lapse photography is a technique in which the frequency at which film frames are captured (the frame rate) is much lower than the frequency used to view the sequence. When played at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and thus ...
video or
screen shot
screenshot (also known as screen capture or screen grab) is a digital image that shows the contents of a computer display. A screenshot is created by the operating system or software running on the device powering the display.
Additionally, s ...
s, or may take video or still image captures at regular intervals (e.g., once every 4 minutes). They may collect images constantly or only collect information while the user is interacting with the equipment (e.g., capturing screens when the
mouse
A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...
or keyboard is active).
*Data monitoring tracks the content of and changes to files stored on the local
hard drive
A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating platters coated with magnet ...
or in the user's "private"
network share
In computing, a shared resource, or network share, is a computer resource made available from one host to other hosts on a computer network.
It is a device or piece of information on a computer that can be remotely accessed from another comput ...
.
*Keystroke monitoring (e.g., number of keystrokes per minute) may track the performance of keyboard-intensive work such as word processing or data entry.
Keystroke logging
Keystroke logging, often referred to as keylogging or keyboard capturing, is the action of recording (logging) the keys struck on a keyboard, typically covertly, so that a person using the keyboard is unaware that their actions are being monitored ...
captures all keyboard input to enable the employer to monitor anything typed into the monitored machine.
*Idle time monitoring keeps
track of time when the employee is away from the computer or the computer is not being actively used.
*Printer monitoring records documents files that are printed from the computer.
*Removable drives monitoring tracks external devices that are connected to the computer.
*Video/audio monitoring makes recordings and snapshots from connected devices webcam and microphone and broadcasts video/sound live.
This is also known as
employee monitoring
Employee monitoring is the (often automated) surveillance of workers' activity. Organizations engage in employee monitoring for different reasons such as to track performance, to avoid legal liability, to protect trade secrets, and to address other ...
in the industry. Employee monitoring is used for multiple reasons, including compliance and
Insider threat management
An insider threat is a malicious threat to an organization that comes from people within the organization, such as employees, former employees, contractors or business associates, who have inside information concerning the organization's security ...
.
Employee monitoring software
Employee monitoring software is a means of employee monitoring, and allows company administrators to monitor and supervise all their employee computers from a central location. It is normally deployed over a business network and allows for easy c ...
can monitor
application software
Application may refer to:
Mathematics and computing
* Application software, computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks
** Application layer, an abstraction layer that specifies protocols and interface methods used in a c ...
, including
email
Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic ( digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" meant ...
,
instant message
Instant messaging (IM) technology is a type of online chat allowing real-time text transmission over the Internet or another computer network. Messages are typically transmitted between two or more parties, when each user inputs text and trigge ...
,
filesystem
In computing, file system or filesystem (often abbreviated to fs) is a method and data structure that the operating system uses to control how data is stored and retrieved. Without a file system, data placed in a storage medium would be one larg ...
and
print job
In computing, a print job is a file or set of files that has been submitted to be printed with a printer.
Jobs are typically identified by a unique number, and are assigned to a particular destination, usually a printer. Jobs can also have options ...
s.
Internet usage
Internet surveillance
Computer and network surveillance is the monitoring of computer activity and data stored locally on a computer or data being transferred over computer networks such as the Internet. This monitoring is often carried out covertly and may be comple ...
is the monitoring of
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
data traffic Network traffic or data traffic is the amount of data moving across a network at a given point of time. Network data in computer networks is mostly encapsulated in network packets, which provide the load in the network. Network traffic is the main c ...
,
web access
Web most often refers to:
* Spider web, a silken structure created by the animal
* World Wide Web or the Web, an Internet-based hypertext system
Web, WEB, or the Web may also refer to:
Computing
* WEB, a literate programming system created by ...
, and other online activity. This may include monitoring any
Internet traffic
Internet traffic is the flow of data within the entire Internet, or in certain network links of its constituent networks. Common traffic measurements are total volume, in units of multiples of the byte, or as transmission rates in bytes per cert ...
including encrypted web browser traffic via
Transport Layer Security
Transport Layer Security (TLS) is a cryptographic protocol designed to provide communications security over a computer network. The protocol is widely used in applications such as email, instant messaging, and voice over IP, but its use in securi ...
and
Secure Sockets Layer
Transport Layer Security (TLS) is a cryptographic protocol designed to provide communications security over a computer network. The protocol is widely used in applications such as email, instant messaging, and voice over IP, but its use in securi ...
connections, personal web-based email, and personal banking sites. Research done by
American Management Association
The American Management Association (AMA) is an American non-profit educational membership organization for the promotion of management, based in New York City. Besides its headquarters there, it has local head offices throughout the world.
It o ...
that nearly 30 percent of all employers in the United States
monitor
Monitor or monitor may refer to:
Places
* Monitor, Alberta
* Monitor, Indiana, town in the United States
* Monitor, Kentucky
* Monitor, Oregon, unincorporated community in the United States
* Monitor, Washington
* Monitor, Logan County, West ...
employee
e-mail
Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic ( digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" meant ...
s.
Legislation
Labor union
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...
contracts and other forms of
employment agreements
An employment contract or contract of employment is a kind of contract used in labour law to attribute rights and responsibilities between parties to a bargain.
The contract is between an "employee" and an "employer". It has arisen out of the old m ...
may offer some protection from monitoring. Additionally, in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, public sector employees may have some protection under the
Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fourth Amendment (Amendment IV) to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. It prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures. In addition, it sets requirements for issuing warrants: warrants must be issued by a judge o ...
. Employees in
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
may have additional protection under specific portions of state statute.
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
An end-user license agreement or EULA () is a legal contract between a software supplier and a customer or end-user, generally made available to the customer via a retailer acting as an intermediary. A EULA specifies in detail the rights and restr ...
). For example,
Spectorsoft
Veriato, formerly known as SpectorSoft, is a software company that develops and sells user behavior analytics and employee monitoring software.
It is based in Palm Beach Gardens, located in Palm Beach County, Florida, in the United States.
H ...
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.
Employee perception
In organizations without stated computer usage or monitoring policy, employees typically use the company's equipment 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 viewed by employees as an invasion of privacy or a lack of trust. Employers have the right to monitor their employees in the United States but of course, there are specific rules and regulations they must follow depending on the state legislation.
Despite the fact that almost 80% of all major companies in America actively monitor their employees., public opinion is still mostly on the employees’ side. Most of Americans still think that monitoring in the workplace is not entirely acceptable. According to Pew Research Center, only 6% of respondents do not care about being monitored at work.
Employee's relationship with employers may be affected with being monitored at work.
The freedom, privacy, respect, and responsibility aspect between human relations may be taken away from an employee when being monitored.
See also
*
Surveillance
Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as c ...
*
Spyware
Spyware (a portmanteau for spying software) is software with malicious behaviour that aims to gather information about a person or organization and send it to another entity in a way that harms the user—for example, by violating their privac ...
*
Workplace privacy
References
{{Reflist
Computer surveillance
Workplace