How workplace surveillance

1. Name: __________________ Date: ____________________
How Workplace Surveillance Works
Obtained on Sept. 13, 2007 from: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/workplace-surveillance.htm
Introduction to How Workplace Surveillance Works
1. What activities are considered as cyberslacking according to the article?
• Personal emails
• Playing games
• Watching pornography
• Shopping
• Checking stock prices
• Gambling
2. Do you think it is an ethical practice for an employer to track the websites that
you may be going to at work? Explain why or why not.
• Yes, because the employer hires people who he thinks will benefit the
company’s image and if the manager finds out that the employee is
acting different online than he does in person then the employer can
fire said employee.
A Growing Trend
3. Why do you think that employers are tracking the activities of their
employees?
• To see if the employees are making proper use of the company’s time
because time is money and also to see if the upholding the image of
the company.
4. What are the five methods that employers can use to track employee
activities:
• Packet sniffer
• Log files
• Desktop monitoring programs
• Phones
• Closed circuit cameras
5. What is a packet sniffer?
• A packet sniffer is a program that can see all of the information passing
over a network, the programs looks at it, or “sniffs”, each packet. A
packet is a part of a message that has broken up.
6. A packet sniffer located at one of the servers of your ISP would potentially
be able to monitor all of your online activities, such as:
• Which web sites you visit
• What you look on at the site
• Whom you send emails to
• What’s in the e-mail you sent
• What you download from the site

2. Name: __________________ Date: ____________________
• What streaming events you use, such as audio, video and internet
telephony.
Desktop Monitoring
7. Describe how a desktop monitoring system would monitor employees.
• Every time you provide some sort of input for your computer a
signal is transmitted. These signals can be intercepted by desktop
monitoring system.
8. Explain how log files work?
• They store the websites and information of everything you have
done for ex:, emails both received and sent, applications and
downloadable files
9. Where can log files be found?
• Operating system
• Web browser
• Application
• E-mail
Traditional Eavesdropping
10.Describe how employers eavesdrop on their employees.
• Phone calls
• Storing and reviewing emails and voicemails
• Video recording employees during job
11.Currently, 78 percent of all companies use some type of surveillance
system. Here is a breakdown of the methods they use:
• Storing and reviewing computer files: 36%
• Video recording employees:15%
• Recording and reviewing phone calls:12%
• Storing and reviewing voice mails :8%