“Big Brother” employee monitoring software

[Eldorado]

"Barclays has been criticised by HR experts and privacy campaigners after the bank installed “Big Brother” employee monitoring software in its London headquarters.

"Introduced as a pilot last week, the technology monitors Barclays workers’ activity on their computers, and in some instances admonishes staff in daily updates to them if they are not deemed to have been active enough — which is described as being in “the zone”.

"The system tells staff to “avoid breaks” as it monitors their productivity in real-time, and records activities such as toilet visits as “unaccounted activity”."

Full monty at the blogfactory UK: https://blogfactory.co.uk/2020/02/20/barclays-bank-perseveres-with-spying-on-its-staff/

[+Desertrat56]

That software has been around a long time.  I remember applying for a job as a customer phone rep in 2014 and I was told that software would be monitoring my activity and that breaks were discouraged.  I also noticed that the employees seemed very unhappy so I turned the job down as I will not work in a sweat shop.  A previous job I had until 2012 monitored everyone's internet activity.    So, Barclay has been brave enough to admit that they are a sweatshop in a country that is constantly monitored anyway.  Big Brother has been around a long time.

[aztek]

every single job monitors internet activity on company computer, but many have reasonable use policy, and as long as you do not abuse it, they do not mind

[Eldorado]

Didn't last long.

Barclays scraps 'Big Brother' staff tracking system

At the BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51570401

 

[Big Jim]

It's long been understood that the computers and software you use at work are not yours and therefore not private.  You can be sure that employers are tracking you in other ways.  Most places have cameras surveilling employee activity.  Twenty years ago the place where I worked installed a new badge reading system.  The old system used a mag strip to open doors and the new system used cards with chips.  We were told of the advantages of being able to open doors just by holding our card near the sensor instead of having to swipe it.  What they didn't tell us, but we discovered on our own, was that there were sensors in the ceiling all over the building that tracked the passage of badges passing under them.  They could produce a map of every employee's route throughout the building.  You'd better not be caught where you didn't belong.  At the speed that technology has been advancing that would be primitive compared to today's capabilities.

[Grim Reaper 6]

While our Government will never admit it organizations like the NSA have back doors into most Computer Operating Systems especially Microsoft Windows. If you computer is connected to the Internet your can be monitored at anytime our government chooses to do so. Apples products are harder to monitor due to the OSI operating system but if you do not have an encrypted Firewall nothing is off limits. 

Taking this into account employers can also watch every key stroke an employee makes along with every online site that is visited. The easiest way for them to this is to have their tech personnel install a tracking Trogen into their server. By doing this they can infect every system connected to that server. So it best if you work for a company that has strick computer policies to follow those policies.

Oh if they have used a Trojan to track their personal systems, never use your personal devices online at work. If you do you have given your company complete access to your personal data and life. While this is certainly illegal it can be very hard to prove, so hopefully the company you work for tells you in advance that using your personal devices at work can can lead to monitoring or bans there use altogether.

Peace

[Big Jim]

1 hour ago, Manwon Lender said:

so hopefully the company you work for tells you in advance that using your personal devices at work can can lead to monitoring or bans there use altogether.

It's in the fine print in your employee handbook, or in one of the things you signed without reading when you were hired.  And don't think there isn't a rule because they never say anything.  At the place I mentioned above it was common for people to send personal emails between employees, even betting pools and chain emails, but when they needed to quietly get rid of 97 employees many obscure rules began to be enforced.  Amidst all the other email uses and abuses, one woman in the target group was fired for sending an email to her boyfriend in another department to coordinate their lunch times.  It had been common practice until the company needed an excuse.

[aztek]

9 hours ago, Big Jim said:

It's long been understood that the computers and software you use at work are not yours and therefore not private.  You can be sure that employers are tracking you in other ways.  Most places have cameras surveilling employee activity.  Twenty years ago the place where I worked installed a new badge reading system.  The old system used a mag strip to open doors and the new system used cards with chips.  We were told of the advantages of being able to open doors just by holding our card near the sensor instead of having to swipe it.  What they didn't tell us, but we discovered on our own, was that there were sensors in the ceiling all over the building that tracked the passage of badges passing under them.  They could produce a map of every employee's route throughout the building.  You'd better not be caught where you didn't belong.  At the speed that technology has been advancing that would be primitive compared to today's capabilities.

there are laws about it too,  cameras are looking at doors, unless we are talking about sensitive areas, like mailroom, server room, it is illegal to actually point cameras at workers.  in some states,  iti is like that  in ny. ,nj. do not know about the rest, do not have property there. but i suspect they are not much different

those sensors in ceilings are motion sensors that disable locks when someone approaches,  i manage about half a dozen of buildings, including security , cctv equipment, no one is tracking your movement around the floor, there is no need for it, and in some states it is illegal.  . there are many myths about security and monitoring, and guards like to mess with you and tell you things that aren't true, 

Edited February 21, 2020 by aztek

[Big Jim]

36 minutes ago, aztek said:

there are laws about it too,  cameras are looking at doors, unless we are talking about sensitive areas, like mailroom, server room, it is illegal to actually point cameras at workers.  in some states,  iti is like that  in ny. ,nj. do not know about the rest, do not have property there. but i suspect they are not much different

those sensors in ceilings are motion sensors that disable locks when someone approaches,  i manage about half a dozen of buildings, including security , cctv equipment, no one is tracking your movement around the floor, there is no need for it, and in some states it is illegal.  . there are many myths about security and monitoring, and guards like to mess with you and tell you things that aren't true, 

I don't know about the legality of it, but every cashier has a camera directly overhead, recording them.  The overhead sensors where I worked did not disable locks, you still had to place your badge against the sensor to open a door.  But a tiny red light blinked when you walked under one with your badge on.  There was no reaction if you didn't have your badge on.  The sensors were above the main pathways, not near doors.  I know of several people who were questioned based on a printout showing they were not where they should have been.  This was a moderately secure facility.  No cash or valuables, other than information.  No guards.

[aztek]

 

yes, stores banks point them at cash register, or anywhere where money is involved, in those cases laws are a bit different.   

we have multiple access denied cases a day due to people having more than 1 badge on the same clip, it usually confuses the readers.  also antistatic bags, block rf signal, thou some signals are stronger than others, might not work with just 1 bag.  i know some people line pockets\wallets with these bags, they are too paranoid, someone can scan their CC in their pockets, 

idk why someone would install system like that, i know those are pretty expensive, we have no such system in any of our buildings, but it does not mean tenant can't install their own, in their space.  but i've never seen them in any of our tenants, and we have many.   from doctors offices to financial companies, who guard their secrets pretty good.

 

[Big Jim]

2 hours ago, aztek said:

 

yes, stores banks point them at cash register, or anywhere where money is involved, in those cases laws are a bit different.   

we have multiple access denied cases a day due to people having more than 1 badge on the same clip, it usually confuses the readers.  also antistatic bags, block rf signal, thou some signals are stronger than others, might not work with just 1 bag.  i know some people line pockets\wallets with these bags, they are too paranoid, someone can scan their CC in their pockets, 

idk why someone would install system like that, i know those are pretty expensive, we have no such system in any of our buildings, but it does not mean tenant can't install their own, in their space.  but i've never seen them in any of our tenants, and we have many.   from doctors offices to financial companies, who guard their secrets pretty good.

 

I think sometimes these measures spring more from the corporate personality than any real need for security.  This was a very oppressive company to work for that did not tolerate idleness among the peons.  It wasn't always like that, in fact when I started there the atmosphere was surprisingly lax and easy going.  But over time it became a much worse place for the employees and corporate attempts to control their lives and movements gradually increased.  There was even a rule in the employee handbook requiring one to wear underwear.  For all I know this could be the result of one person's policies, one control freak in a key position.

We didn't try anything like the bags or other shielding devices.  We were much more low tech.  When we wanted to sneak out for a smoke we merely left our badges at our work station and put a pebble in the door.

[toast]

20 hours ago, Eldorado said:

Didn't last long.

Barclays scraps 'Big Brother' staff tracking system

At the BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51570401

Because of the lousy tracking results of the managers.

[+Desertrat56]

6 minutes ago, Big Jim said:

I think sometimes these measures spring more from the corporate personality than any real need for security.  This was a very oppressive company to work for that did not tolerate idleness among the peons.  It wasn't always like that, in fact when I started there the atmosphere was surprisingly lax and easy going.  But over time it became a much worse place for the employees and corporate attempts to control their lives and movements gradually increased.  There was even a rule in the employee handbook requiring one to wear underwear.  For all I know this could be the result of one person's policies, one control freak in a key position.

We didn't try anything like the bags or other shielding devices.  We were much more low tech.  When we wanted to sneak out for a smoke we merely left our badges at our work station and put a pebble in the door.

One small company I worked for in the 90's had a personnel manager who put out a memo that all personnel must wear panty hose and no one was allowed to wear sandals.   My boss went to her (a man) and asked how she expected to enforce such a rule and did she have a specific type of panty hose in mind that she was requiring him to wear.   She knew she could not state in the memo that it was only women she was addressing so another memo came out that removed that policy and just stated everyone must wear professional appropriate clothing. 

Another job I had in the 80's, I was the computer tech and had to run up and down stairs carrying equipment, crawl under desks etc and the new personnel manager was upset that in July in southern New Mexico I was not wearing panty hose.  She did not tell everyone, and in a lot of other departments the women were allowed to wear jeans, but for some reason I was not, weird condition of me being promoted to programmer, though I was still doing the tech job as well.  She had my boss tell me to wear panty hose, but he was embarrassed, though he did agree with her.  I just told him I was allergic after I fell out of my chair laughing because his manner of hemming and hawing led me to believe I was getting fired.  So the next day the personnel director showed up with some of those stockings with the elastic for the thigh and said "I had these and they don't work for me so I thought you could use them."  I took them and threw them in the trash.  And after that I started wearing kahki pants and jeans to work.  The 80's was a hard time for women in tech jobs.  No one knew where to draw the line and tried to impose their misguided opinions on others without thinking things through. 

[Setton]

5 minutes ago, toast said:

Because of the lousy tracking results of the managers.

Turns out the CEO got a RED warning for never doing any work.