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“I monitor my staff with software that takes screenshots”

bbc.co.uk

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Re: “I monitor my staff with software that takes screenshots”

#11

Post by helsinkiandrew »

zenincognito wrote: post #5

I once went to court against a client who wouldn't pay his bills. The sum more than 35K. It took over 9 months to get to court ( as the court wouldnt give a date ) and countless docs and hours spent to come up with evidence folder. In Australia, a citizen can argue their case which I did without using any lawyers. Finally, we both argued our case to a point where the client's defence was that there was no time log fo…

> Pay for work not time spent on the computer

This is the right solution, but of course is harder for some occupations - call center, sewing buttons, and more mundane work. Where 'bad' employers can push up the amount of work expected.

Re: “I monitor my staff with software that takes screenshots”

#12

Post by rdw »

The security implications of this software must be devastating. To prevent being defeated by the employee, it'll be essentially a rootkit already. Any black hat that finds a way to gain authorization will basically have a ready-made botnet. Let alone all the personal and corporate data they would be able to ransom and sell.

Re: “I monitor my staff with software that takes screenshots”

#13

Post by Hokusai »

kjakm wrote: post #4

I've experienced this kind of software working on an hourly contract via UpWork. It would take screenshots at random points in 10 minute intervals, and would track number of mouse clicks/key presses. I think everything was logged officially at the end of the day so if you happened to be on a personal site during the screenshot you could delete it and you'd lose those 10 minutes from the total number of hours you had…

> it didn't feel as dystopian as it sounds

My mother grew up in a dictatorship, and most of the time is like any other country. People would come on vacations and they will not even notice any difference. The only problem is when you get into problems, then you have no recourse.

Dystopias in movies are felt each minute of the day, real dystopias are not like that. You should read Kafka's "The Process". Everything is normal until it is not. It is a better depiction of a dictatorship than a 3 hours condensed movie.

Re: “I monitor my staff with software that takes screenshots”

#14

Post by travbrack »

rdw wrote: post #12

The security implications of this software must be devastating. To prevent being defeated by the employee, it'll be essentially a rootkit already. Any black hat that finds a way to gain authorization will basically have a ready-made botnet. Let alone all the personal and corporate data they would be able to ransom and sell.

By that logic so is a configuration management client like SCCM or even Group Policy.

Re: “I monitor my staff with software that takes screenshots”

#15

Post by ehnto »

helsinkiandrew wrote: post #8

I used to work at a bank whose homeworking remote login system would timeout after a ridiculously short period. The solution (used by many, and widely publicised around the company) was to place an optical mouse over the face of a clock whose movement would trigger a tiny movement every so often and keep you logged in. I'm sure the remote staff at his company have worked out how to browse facebook and instagram on th…

Reminds me of a friend who currently leaves a heavy object on his spacebar inside a text doc at night, so that it shows him active all the time. That way they won't see when he clocks in. It's one of those jobs where it doesn't matter when he does the work, but the silent judgment of the clock causes stress anyway and people make comments.

Re: “I monitor my staff with software that takes screenshots”

#16

Post by _Gyan_ »

kjakm wrote: post #4

I've experienced this kind of software working on an hourly contract via UpWork. It would take screenshots at random points in 10 minute intervals, and would track number of mouse clicks/key presses. I think everything was logged officially at the end of the day so if you happened to be on a personal site during the screenshot you could delete it and you'd lose those 10 minutes from the total number of hours you had…

I've never installed that tracker and never been asked to, by clients. Never had a dispute or lost payment. It's mostly about choosing clients with care.

Re: “I monitor my staff with software that takes screenshots”

#17

Post by spurdoman77 »

zenincognito wrote: post #5

I once went to court against a client who wouldn't pay his bills. The sum more than 35K. It took over 9 months to get to court ( as the court wouldnt give a date ) and countless docs and hours spent to come up with evidence folder. In Australia, a citizen can argue their case which I did without using any lawyers. Finally, we both argued our case to a point where the client's defence was that there was no time log fo…

> Pay for work not time spent on the computer.

Pay for the results, not for the work or time spent.

Re: “I monitor my staff with software that takes screenshots”

#19

Post by ghoshbishakh »

helsinkiandrew wrote: post #11
zenincognito wrote: post #5

I once went to court against a client who wouldn't pay his bills. The sum more than 35K. It took over 9 months to get to court ( as the court wouldnt give a date ) and countless docs and hours spent to come up with evidence folder. In Australia, a citizen can argue their case which I did without using any lawyers. Finally, we both argued our case to a point where the client's defence was that there was no time log fo…

> Pay for work not time spent on the computer This is the right solution, but of course is harder for some occupations - call center, sewing buttons, and more mundane work. Where 'bad' employers can push up the amount of work expected.

For your specific examples it is much more easier to monitor the amount of work done.

Re: “I monitor my staff with software that takes screenshots”

#20

Post by peterburkimsher »

I was the guy in school who taught other kids how to use Encarta to browse the web.

The library PCs had MasterEye installed, and the staff would monitor the name of the front window. Internet Explorer set the window name to the URL. Encarta did not. If they saw a site that didn't look like school work, the staff would then remote desktop to check what we were looking at. Yes, it felt oppressive at the time. I'm not surprised that employees feel the same as school kids.

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