Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

WFH – Watched from Home: Office 365 and workplace surveillance creep (2022)

privacyinternational.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

161–170 of 367 posts

Re: WFH – Watched from Home: Office 365 and workplace surveillance creep (2022)

#161

Post by reaperducer »

bboygravity wrote: post #99
throwawaaarrgh wrote: post #20

Nearly 20 years ago we used to install monitoring software to tell if a user's mouse or keyboard hadn't been used in a while. More and more places use traffic inspection "for security". Desks now use sensors to tell when warm bodies are near. Doesn't matter whether you're working from office or in the home, surveillance is here to stay. Good businesses should only care if work is getting accomplished. Bad businesses…

Only in America (and third world countries).

Only in America (and third world countries).

Today I learned that Canada, Australia, South Korea, and Japan are third-world countries.

Thanks for the lesson in geopolitics, bboygravity!

Re: WFH – Watched from Home: Office 365 and workplace surveillance creep (2022)

#163

Post by pcurve »

throwawaaarrgh wrote: post #20

Nearly 20 years ago we used to install monitoring software to tell if a user's mouse or keyboard hadn't been used in a while. More and more places use traffic inspection "for security". Desks now use sensors to tell when warm bodies are near. Doesn't matter whether you're working from office or in the home, surveillance is here to stay. Good businesses should only care if work is getting accomplished. Bad businesses…

lol oh the good old days. The funniest part is, it would take screenshots of desktop periodically, but I would know when it's happening due to micro lag in mouse movement as it happened. It was so hilarious. I didn't give a crap because I worked hard anyway. Ended up staying at the place for 17 years.

Re: WFH – Watched from Home: Office 365 and workplace surveillance creep (2022)

#164

Post by IshKebab »

dehrmann wrote: post #132
cmrdporcupine wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yikes, that would be a clear sign to me of a... culture fit... problem at work. And I'd immediately begin looking elsewhere.

Hard disagree. I've worked at multiple companies that care about security. Monitoring employee equipment use for activity that could indicate a compromise is a positive signal.

I agree. I worked at a company that has this endpoint monitoring software and occasionally got emails saying "was it you that ran this command". I just said "yes" and they were like "ok carry on".

I'm not sure how much value there is in that kind of monitoring, but it isn't necessarily bad.

Re: WFH – Watched from Home: Office 365 and workplace surveillance creep (2022)

#165

Post by michaelmrose »

gchamonlive wrote: post #139
qwytw wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> UBI would, and should, replace current welfare schemes. We already have those in place. But that would still require a huge amount of additional money if you want UBI to be above subsistence levels. Otherwise the amount received by current welfare recipients would have to be cut several times. Also what about disabled people and others who can't work? Would they get the same amount as everyone?

I don't really understand the subject too deeply, just enough to have me convinced UBI should be implemented in some form, but I think the fundamental assumption is that everything that the government has to provide, it is going to do so, by no fault of the government itself, in a very inefficient way. So by the mere act of UBI replacing many systems and centralising in a single program many forms of wealth redistrib…

It is incredibly easy to automate giving every citizen an unconditional electronic deposit. The inefficiency and overhead of social programs comes from individual assessments to figure out who to exclude.

Re: WFH – Watched from Home: Office 365 and workplace surveillance creep (2022)

#166

Post by cornercasechase »

suddenclarity wrote: post #154
throwawaaarrgh wrote: post #20

Nearly 20 years ago we used to install monitoring software to tell if a user's mouse or keyboard hadn't been used in a while. More and more places use traffic inspection "for security". Desks now use sensors to tell when warm bodies are near. Doesn't matter whether you're working from office or in the home, surveillance is here to stay. Good businesses should only care if work is getting accomplished. Bad businesses…

> Good businesses should only care if work is getting accomplished. This always comes across as people wanting to have the cake and eat it. Employers should only care that the work is getting done, but if the work isn't done, then the employee should still be able to go home after 8 hours and get full salary?

If the work is not getting done, spying on people isn’t going to improve things. If you want people to work, you have to properly motivate them. That means fair wages and non-toxic management.

Re: WFH – Watched from Home: Office 365 and workplace surveillance creep (2022)

#167

Post by tomcam »

wizofaus wrote: post #111
vihren wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is it fair? You do give the same amount to everyone, but you do not take the same from everyone - you have to take more from those who chose to work. Hence the unfair part.

Taxation is quite separate though - we all have the same access to government provided services and infrastructure regardless of how much income tax we pay, I don't see anybody arguing that's unfair.

[flagged]

Re: WFH – Watched from Home: Office 365 and workplace surveillance creep (2022)

#168

Post by tomcam »

eropple wrote: post #119
wizofaus wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taxation is quite separate though - we all have the same access to government provided services and infrastructure regardless of how much income tax we pay, I don't see anybody arguing that's unfair.

Those with the most to lose benefit the most from having a just and civil society, but that realization never seems to percolate through.

A just and civil society being one where the harder I work, the more taxes I pay? Where stores are closing right and left because theft isn’t prosecuted but I have to pay $7,000 to get a bathroom permitted while an RV on the street outside my house is considered a home and gets to dump shit on the street with no repercussions?

Re: WFH – Watched from Home: Office 365 and workplace surveillance creep (2022)

#169

Post by cornercasechase »

eropple wrote: post #120
charlie0 wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure those people don't want to give up their iPhones and AC either (which also are not "natural").

And so they would...continue...to work...for things that cost more than food and shelter do?

Very often, yes. But if their boss harassed them (or say tried to force RTO), they could quit and not worry about ending up on the street.

Re: WFH – Watched from Home: Office 365 and workplace surveillance creep (2022)

#170

Post by EastSmith »

dehrmann wrote: post #132
cmrdporcupine wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yikes, that would be a clear sign to me of a... culture fit... problem at work. And I'd immediately begin looking elsewhere.

Hard disagree. I've worked at multiple companies that care about security. Monitoring employee equipment use for activity that could indicate a compromise is a positive signal.

I guess the Q that bothers me the most is who has access to my activity, when it was accessed and why.
Post reply on HN