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              | Date: 1998-11-18 
 
 IT-Normalität: Paranoia am Arbeitsplatz-.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.-
 
 q/depesche  98.11/3
 
 IT-Normalität: Paranoia am Arbeitsplatz
 
 Dem sogenannten Trickle-Down-Effekt entsprechend, folgt
 die private Industrie dem unschönen Beispiele
 des Staates nach & überwacht, hört ab & kontrolliert was es
 zwischen Arbeitsplatz & Toilette zu überwachen,
 kontrollieren & abzuhören gibt.
 
 post/scrypt: Wundert es wen, dass die Paranoia zum
 essentiellen Teil der Lebenswelt geworden ist?
 
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 Robert O'Harrow Jr.
 November 16, 1998
 ...
 As it turns out, there may be a reason for your office angst:
 More and more software companies have begun offering ever-
 more sophisticated tools that can keep tabs on employees.
 ...
 Julie Allen, senior product manager for Tech Assist Inc., said
 her software, named Desktop Surveillance, might help a boss
 prevent a lazy employee from cruising inappropriate sites on
 the Web or a temp worker from deleting important files. Her
 product, one of several like it on the market, costs $55.
 
 She said a surprising array of companies, organizations and
 individuals have bought the software since its release earlier
 this year. Among them are the Federal Bureau of
 Investigation, local prosecutors and mistrustful spouses, who
 want to keep a close eye on their mates.
 ...
 "It's sort of like a truth meter. It tells you exactly what's
 happening," said Allen, adding that the software can be
 configured to send the boss a message whenever an
 employee on a company's internal network is doing
 something that's against the rules.
 ...
 Such monitoring is part of the growing use of technology to
 track employees. Business executives across the land now
 routinely read employee e-mail and listen in on telephone
 conversations.
 ...
 One company sells computer systems that allow restaurants
 and hospitals to track how often employees wash their hands.
 
 All of this is legal. Indeed, many companies argue that
 workplace privacy is an oxymoron. When someone is using a
 company computer and getting paid to work, some folks
 argue, they have no right to send private e-mail, steal trade
 secrets or amuse themselves by cruising the Web.
 ...
 Judith DeCew, a philosophy professor at Clark University,
 said people can't expect to shield themselves at work in the
 same way they do at home and in the rest of their lives.
 "Employees have less of a privacy claim," DeCew said.
 
 Robert Gellman, a privacy consultant in the District, agreed.
 "You don't have the same status as at home," he said.
 
 But both said the burgeoning practice of watching workers
 could backfire, making employees feel less trusted and less
 enthusiastic about their jobs. So even though the use of this
 technology to monitor workers may be legal and effective, it
 could hurt companies in the long run
 ...
 Gellman suggests that companies should make sure they
 spell out for employees how they use such software and the
 information it gathers. But even then he's wary of the
 practice, saying that it's part of a lamentable tendency for
 people to monitor one another.
 
 "This is all part of that," Gellman said. "At some point,
 surveillance becomes counterproductive."
 ....
 
 Full story
 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-
 11/16/029l-111698-idx.html
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 edited by
 published on: 1998-11-18
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