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Article Series: Internet Privacy
Is My Privacy Vulnerable To Attack?
Computer
Privacy Rules At Your Job
If you think your computer
is safe from the prying eyes of your company or boss, think
again. Nearly 80
percent of major U.S. companies monitor their employees' Internet,
e-mail, and phone usage. This is according to the findings
of the New York City-based American Management Association's
(AMA's) annual workplace monitoring and surveillance survey. "Privacy
in the workplace is largely illusory," says Ellen Bayer,
the AMA's human resources practice leader. Active monitoring
has risen considerably in recent years, up from 35 percent
in 1997 to 78 percent today.
In past years the increase in monitoring was related to an
increase in the percentage of employees that were gaining access
to email and the Internet. However, this year the average percentage
of workers with an office email and Internet connections remained
the same. However, monitoring of those activities went up almost
10 percent.
In a recent survey, of the 1,627 large and
mid-sized firms from the manufacturing, financial services,
wholesale/retail,
business/professional services, general services, public administration,
and nonprofit industries, 63 percent said that they monitor
workers’ Internet connections, and 47 percent store and review
employee email. Another 40 percent block Internet connection
to unauthorized sites, or sites they deem as inappropriate.
Also, 43 percent of participants monitor telephone numbers
called and time spent on the phone. Another 19 percent keep
track of logged computer time and 38 percent use video surveillance
for security purposes. "It's not just a matter of corporate
curiosity, but very real worries about productivity and liability
that push these policies," says Eric Rolfe Greenberg,
director of management studies for the AMA.
Some
of these companies use the information they collect through
these monitoring practices to discipline
their employees. Not
surprisingly 27 percent of these companies say they have fired
employees who have been caught misusing office email or Internet
connections, and 65 percent report administering some form
of disciplinary measures to those who were breaking the rules. "It's
important to note, however, that by far the greater share of
this monitoring is performed on a spot-check basis rather than
an ongoing 24-hour basis," explains Greenberg. "And,
importantly, 90 percent of the companies engaging in any of
these practices inform their employees that they're doing so."
This
survey was done in 2001 and is called the AMA survey: Workplace
Monitoring & Surveillance.
If these findings don’t scare you out of using the company
computer to email your friends and family, and if you think
they won’t know or aren’t watching, you may be surprised.
There are many rules to keep in mind when safeguarding your
privacy at the workplace. The most important of these rules
is to only use your computer and email for work related purposes
to start. Not only do you not want to divulge personal information
to your employers, but you also don’t want to be disciplined
for using company time and resources to take care of personal
matters.
Another important way to safeguard your privacy at work is
to talk with your company about the security measures that
they are taking to ensure that information you deem private
and personal is not accessible to anyone else. For example,
details of your job application or resume may be filed on a
computer and accessible to different people in the company,
or vulnerable to hackers. There are steps you and your employers
can take to ensure that personal information is kept safe on
your computer.
Most importantly is to always assume that someone is watching.
As you can see from this survey, more and more workplaces are
monitoring your email and Internet use and not telling you
about it. You may think it is harmless and safe; however it
is a huge drain on company resources and may result in your
termination. Think twice before using that company computer
for private use. # # # # #
SolveYourProblem.com
: 2008
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