Computer Surveillance At The Workplace Essay

Did you know that 58% of employers have fired workers for Internet and email misuse? And 48% justify employee video monitoring as an effort to “counter theft and violence?” According to the “2007 Electronic Monitoring & Surveillance Survey” of which 304 U.S. companies participated in, computer-monitoring results have led to the highest cause of employee termination. These companies used several tactics to eavesdrop on employees while claiming to be managing productivity or for security purposes. Some argue that surveillance is absolutely necessary to help protect and grow a business; others argue that employee and customer rights come first. However, companies that use such tactics often violate the privacy of individuals, exploit their private information and even punish those that do not conform to their standards.

Every Single day it is indeed a full-time job for the network administrator to keep up with the changing technologies. These new technologies come with new challenges, threats, and vulnerabilities which a smart network administrator must solve to keep the system secure. The network administrator must keep up with new hacking techniques, latest countermeasures, and in-depth knowledge of company’s data to address the suspicious activities and minimize their effects. But then comes the question of Ethics. Should the network administrator access employees’ private emails or websites logs to ensure company’s rules aren’t violated? Is it ok to browse employees’ documents or graphics files stored on the computers or on file servers? So, the network administrator has both charms and pitfalls as he has a huge responsibility to secure the company by carrying out his duties in an ethical way. This paper explains some ethical and social challenges a future network administrator may encounter in a company. The paper also introduces some basic ways the new network administrator can use to maintain a healthy, trustful, and ethical relationship between his work and the society.

On the evening of February 26, 2012, in Sanford, Florida, a neighborhood watch coordinator, George Zimmerman fatally shot unarmed 17-year-old teenager named Trayvon Martin. Some say Zimmerman acted rightfully in self-defense while others believe he acted wrongfully by racially profiling Martin during the incident. Similarly, on August 9, 2015, an 18-year-old teenager named Michael Brown was fatally shot to death by police officer, Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri. Some witnesses believe that Brown was unarmed during this unfortunate incident and that he was holding his hands up in order to surrender to Wilson. Unfortunately, society may never know what actually happened since witnesses, proof, and evidence were very limited during that time of the events. Incidents like these may never have to happen again if law enforcement wore body cameras during their shifts. Body-worn cameras are a video recorder mainly used by police and law enforcement to record interactions with the public, evidence at crime scenes while still improving officer and citizen accountability. Due to the recent rise in news following innocent people being unjustly shot by law enforcement, the idea of wearing body cameras are starting to look like a great idea. Body worn cameras seem like a great asset to utilize for every police officer out there however there are some faults to it as well like some security, ethical, and social issues.

Employers are discovering that employee emails and telephone uses are starting to have an impact on its business. Therefore, employers are trying to protect the company's investment, by monitoring employees email without being invasive. Employers can use, computer software, which gives the employer the ability to record how much time the employees' spend on his or, her email account, without having to read the employees email

“The Surveillance Society,” by Adam Penenburg explains the impact that the attacks on September 11th, 2001 had on usage of technological surveillance of the American people. Penenburg writes that the assault on U.S. soil caused a great shift between privacy and policy causing a bill to be signed into law granting the government easier access into our emails, web history, and even phone calls. Even with all the surveillance, Penenburg claims that people could care less because in a time of turmoil because they care deeply about safety. Surveillance can be used to convict criminals, stop car thieves, and prevent terrorism. The constant surveillance increases the amount of information available on every single person but is extremely difficult

E-mail has rapidly become a staple of the modern office. Currently, two-thirds of employees in medium and large companies in the United States now have Internet access, compared with fifteen percent only two years ago. The availability of e-mail allows for messages to be widely and rapidly distributed, improving efficiency and reducing cost. In addition to being one of the components of the new workplace, e-mail is also the center of a hot privacy debate. Part of this is because, unlike regular mail, which is difficult to monitor, e-mail can be scanned with ease, allowing employers to engage in monitoring at an unprecedented rate, and raising the specter of a workplace free of privacy. As this relatively new technology gains ever increasing prevalence, certain questions

Businesses putting in cameras and monitoring computers are not uncommon now a days. Observing the work area and its employees allows employers to find out who works and who doesn 't. Well-placed cameras and software helps companies detect and identify any employees who may be stealing company property or slacking off on work computers. A 2005 survey by the American Management Association showed that more than half of the employers use video surveillance at work to counter theft, violence, or sabotage (AMA 2010). And 16% of the employers surveyed used video surveillance to monitor employee performance (AMA 2010). When talking about property damage, having the surveillance cameras monitored by security personnel greatly increases the chance of catching anyone misusing or stealing company

An example of my privacy being taken away from me was via e-mail. I had applied for a job as a teacher for K-3 grade. I applied for the job on my lunch break. I forgot to close the website after I finished and proceeded to the bathroom. Hours later, the news was all over the workplace and I felt so embarrassed. I cannot say who read the mail because I was not there; however, my private workspace and computer was a violation of some kind. How do I suppose to handle a problem like this? What are my rights?

“If a person in a phone conversation believes that everything they say is monitored by the government, then their participation in the marketplace of ideas could be chilled.” This principle is known as the chilling effect. Essentially what this means is that, should a person believe their phone conversations, internet activity, or digital communication are constantly being monitored, their willingness to openly express their thoughts and ideas could be “chilled”. The chilling effect ultimately hinders the advancement of society as a whole because  government surveillance prohibits people from openly expressing ideas that are considered politically unfavourable. People’s fear of persecution disables from them having open and honest discussion of ideas with “genuine social utility” and could actually benefit

A policy on employee and computer monitoring will also help reduce the potential for legal liability that might arise out of the actions of the employee for electronic communications that can be found to be in violations of the laws related to workplace discrimination, harassment, and obscenity as well as those involving intellectual and trade secrets property rights. (Stephen D. Lichtenstein, p.2) Federal and state laws impose upon the employers the obligation to provide policy that will protect employees against sexual harassment or workplace discrimination. It is not sufficient that the company proves that it acted on the complaint of an employee against another employee. The conduct of an investigation will also not

It seems that every day we hear a new story about the GCSB and NSA watching our every move by some bloke who claims to have inside information, but is this all just paranoia or is it reasonable to be concerned about the slowly increasing surveillance of today's world. Are we fast approaching George Orwell's “1984” surveillance state or are we creating a technological Utopia.

2) It is getting ever easier to record anything, or everything, that you see. This opens fascinating possibilities-and alarming ones.”

Workplace surveillance has become a controversial issue in the workplace environment. The technological surveillance has developed as a necessity, it doesn’t only help in monitoring what the workers’ do, but it also helps to know how they do it. The modern technological development may have helped the employers’ to have an aerial view of the workplace environment, but it has created a controversy between the employees’ and the employer about the employees’ right to privacy being violated. The employees’ believe the act of workplace surveillance to be hateful that violates their right to privacy and liberties. The surveillance at the workplace often effects workers mental health, productivity, future success in their work and their relationship with the employer, despite being a necessity for the employers’ to protect themselves against the liability, many employers’ in the process of achieving efficiency through surveillance mistakenly ruin their relationship with their employees. The workplace surveillance is helpful in improving the performance of workers or it is contributing towards degrading the performance of workers and their work relationships.

It is a common practice especially in industries that have a large number of employees whom they cannot monitor in person. The research will examine computer monitoring as one of the methods which the management uses to monitor employee activity at the workplace. The researcher will examine the advantages of computer monitoring at the workplace in detail in relation to the legal realm, public perception and criticism. Firms store most of their data in the computer database. In fact, many companies rely on computer networks to communicate with its employees, stakeholders and clients.

In The Los Angeles Times (2013) an article titled, “Tracking workers’ every move can boost productivity,” stated how employers are using surveillance software to monitor employees every movement. Employees are criticizing the monitoring software since it has caused harsher work environment. Employees feel with the monitoring system, employers see them as human machines a way to drive costs down and increase production (Semuels, 2013). Employees are finding that monitoring technology have cost jobs