CNN

Jack, I'm retired, but considering all the economic concerns that companies face today, combined with the fear of terrorism, I would not be surprised to see more software aimed at peaking into the personal lives of employees.

Are you kidding? Come on! Supervision is the biggest problem in this country at the workplace, it doesn't happen! Or, it's done poorly! If you want to work alone, start your own business and then ask that question to yourself when yo have to hire employees. Americans need to get off their butts and off the internet and do their jobs. I don't see a thing wrong with it, Jack!

Well, Jack, they feel like they need to watch us whizz to get the job...I am waiting for the corporate cavity checks here in the Land Of The Free soon.

So long as it is in the work place they can try & spy on me all they want. But, those of us who are familiar with how to disable a web-cam really don't have to worry about this. But, this is a reason I never have bought a web-cam for my computer at home in the 1st place.

I see nothing wrong with such software. Those employees are being paid to do their employers' tasks, not to download music, shop online, or even stay updated on CNN's "breaking news."
The real question becomes, can we, the voters, get this software to monitor our elected officials?

no jack i don't,i mean why wouldn't you want to make it easier for these people to earn their outrageous salary and bonuses for doing less. it's the American elite
way.
Scott bowling green, mo.

Well, yes because what people on their breaks is not the manager's business. This isn't Russia or China and management shouldn't spy on office workers period. This is the kind of behavior that only third world dictators do to their people to control them and we should discourage this.

Yes, it's very wrong! Can I see every thing my boss does every day too? Every American should real 1984.

If I am paying my employees to use my computers to do a job for me, there is nothing wrong with making sure that those employees are doing what I am paying them to do on my dime.

Is there anyone out there so naive as to believe they can't/don't already do that? It's simple, Employers are entitled to a fair day's work for a fair wage. There is nothing wrong with making sure both parties keep their agreement. Besides, all of this software has been US Gov"t tested, long before business gets it anyway. The guys in the Black suburbans already know more about you than your employer.

We had that at work. They could actually take over the machine and type on our screens (get a grip, it was usually to crack a joke). They could tell who was playing games, etc, looking at porn. They could get in remotely and take care of computer problems. When I was working at home, it was convenient to be able to have them solve problems. They are unable to look at your home system. You must be logged into a work system.

I don't like having to cover for people who would rather play solitaire, and take care of personal e-mail. I was actually using their computer, their system and EARNING MY PAYCHECK. I have no problem with this.

Now I do have a problem with the new governmental push to prevent a cyber attack by sweeping all e-mails and internet searches. I am in the privacy of my own home, using my equipment and using services I pay for. Get out of my house.

Personally, I think it's a great idea as long as the empoyee is aware his or her work is being monitored. I'm from the old school I got paid for doing my job, not sitting around shucking and jiving or scrolling the internet. Keeping an empoyee on their toes is a good thing!!!!!

there is plenty wrong with it BUT when the Federal Government can spy on it's citizens without being required to get a FISA warrant, then I guess industry thinks it's OK.

No. If you have something to hide, don't do it during working hours. I read CNN on line during my lunch time. I don't think my employer would be upset with that.

Nothing MicroEvil does surprises me. Yet the invasion of privacy continues... Look at our own government! I fear for this country and the entire world.

promotes production but leaves less time for imagination, depends on the work place. Its like they are shoving you into a smaller cubicle farther away from the window or reinstilling the responsibility that has long been forgotten. I'm up in the air about this one

Jack
If you are being paid to perform a task I dont see anything wrong with the person or persons that are paying you to also monitor you to insure that their dollars are well spent.

Not at all, Jack. When you are at work, on the clock, using equipment that your company provides they have every right to ensure that you are doing what you are paid to do. Besides, it's only good management practice to wander around and follow up with your employees.

If I am paying my employees to use my computers to do a job for me, there is nothing wrong with making sure that those employees are doing what I am paying them to do, provided that I give them the ground rules.

This technology sounds as intrusive and offensive as having the company nurse standing beside me, pressure cuff, thermometer, and camera in hand. There can be no reason for this beyond spying, discrimination, and dismissal.

IT IS QUITE OBIVIOUS WHAT THIS WILL BE USED FOR, A BUILT IN LIE DETECTOR. ANYONE COULD READ THE RESULTS AND TELL IF YOU ARE LYING, USING DRUGS, OR NOT BEING THE BEST POSSIBLE LITTLE SHEEP IN THE HERD IN GENERAL. 1984 WAS JUST THE DATE THIS GARBAGE STARTED, NOT THE END.

Jack I think HUCKABEE beleves He can do it but untill the conbgress Backs him
It Is a pipe dream. And I am sick and tired Of over goverment pandering to special intrests of all kinds.

I don't have a problem with it. We have to be careful with some employees that have addiction like gambling and pornography. They could get employers in trouble if they do things illegally over the interenet. Employeers should be able to monitor if their employees are accessing restricted sites during working hours, but should not have access to employees personal information like checking account, SSN and the like.

Jack, employers have a right to insure their employees are doing the job they are getting paid to do. Remotely, sure beats standing over your shoulder. A person who is not wasting company time probably won't be watched anyway.

Anyone using company provided computer services, anywhere in the world is subject to monitoring, per the employment agreement. This is not new.

Any service provided by an employer to an employee for the purposes of work related activities belongs to the employer, and the employer has the legal right to monitor every key stroke or software program usage or web site visit or voice call that uses the ACCESS to the Internet provided by them.

Which is why it is SO stupid to use the ACCESS to any online or phone line service provided by the boss, any connection to the Internet, or fax machine, or cell phone or land line, for personal use.

If you work from home using services provided for you by your employeer, then you are borrowing those services, and the boss has the right to do anything they want to manage them. Too bad, folks, it's legal, and frankly, it is correct.

well I strongly belive Mike Huckabee is going to make sure we are sticking to our laws as they are written. I have a relitive who is married to an ilegal alian. They have establised a productive family have four children and it would be a devistating thing for them to be ripped apart. at the same time though we have to inforce our laws. I believe Huckabee plans to send people like my sister in law home but make a way for employers to get them back through work progarms an alow them to get back to thier jobs and families while they await approval for application for citizenship.

i've got a perfect test group to implement this technology on – politicians. they act like they work so hard and this would let their employers , us, actually know how hard they are working. if we can actually monitor their every response while they are supposedly doing work, maybe more of them will actually do the people's bussiness rather than all the crap that they get involved in.

as far as us regular folks is concerned, most of us have got no choice but to work hard. the people who will oppose this are the slackers. everyone else has to bust their butts to just keep their heads above water.

The reality of Gov Huckabee being able to send all illegal aliens home is unrealistic, as there are so many complicated moving parts to the process, first Mexico itself must make policy changes that give their citizens hope in Mexico itself, as well as these other Hemispheric neighbors whose social structure is out of control and basically dictatorial for all practical purposes via Gangs and Crime. We need a hemispheric Summitt on these issues.

Will this type of monitoring detect whether an employee is just playing around and surfing the net and not doing his or her work? A good manager should not have to monitor his subordinates remotely!

If I hire people that I feel the need to monitor or spy on while they work, then I should be replaced. And what about the wasted time someone takes to watch the people being watched. Shouldn't that be considered a wasted time and money?

Hi Jack,

It would be nice if the American Corporatocracy improved productivity by promoting individual well-being, providing medical and psychological support and appreciating workers as members of a business-family. But if intrusive cyber-monitoring is where they want to make their investment, it comes as no surprise.

Ryan Colclasure
Champaign, IL

I think the real question has to do with the issue of disclosure. If an employer is willing to fully disclose the extent to which employees will be monitored, and use these biological factors only to determine things relevant to an employees work ability and quality, then I suppose this type of observation is permissible. After all, the employers are the ones who sign the paychecks, and if an individual is uncomfortable with the perspective work conditions, he or she can choose to seek employment elsewhere. I do worry that employers will use this monitoring ability to track things irrelevant to the work place, and their are clearly very pressing issues of both privacy intrusion and discrimination that must be examined and explored prior to this being put in place. However, my greatest concern is that with some unnoticed executive order, or something of the like, all of this data could easily fall into the hands of the government. Should that happen, our right to privacy, which has been abused by the United States government time and time again, and terribly corroded by the Bush administration, would be greatly hindered and put in serious jeopardy.

Tyler N.
Washington University in St. Louis

Well, since employers want to spy on us at work, then we, as taxpayers, should be able to do the exact same thing to all the government employees, since they are supposed to work for the taxpayers. I wonder how the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches would like it if we were able to spy on them also, since it's our "dime."

We do not need a spy program,
If a manager is any good to start with they will know who is producing and who is not.
Mel
Colorado

Big brother is already watching me at work and everywhere else. But I am staying after work to write to you. Work-I get it. But BIG BROTHER is passing our credit scores around, using them to deny us jobs, monitoring my tv viewing trends so I can be bombarded with unsolicited mailings and e-mails. Now with cable changing, it's a bit scary. Daniel Webster says "God grants liberty only to those who love it and always ready to guard it." Employers and others will go as far as we let them explore in the name of fear or efficiency.

Yes, Jack, I find something wrong with that. If I am getting my job done, my superiors don't have anything to worry about. Seems a little Big Brother-ish to me.

Sterling, Florida

No, I don't see aything wrong with companies remotely monitoring their employees.

The way I figure it, if an employee is using company equipment and is being paid by a company to perform a task, the company is entitled to verify that it is getting what it paid for!

Considering all the glitches that usually accompany the release of a new MS product, I wonder how many hard-working employees would be inadvertently declared dead & taken off the payroll? Not to worry, tho, they can be brought back to life (and paid?) when MS issues the right patch to fix it a few years down the road.

No, managers need to make sure that their employs are working and not stealing company info selling it to outside companies, they also need to know that they are not being robe by those employs who cut out of work early, they that guy in New York did, he was fired for that too.

Do we ever really have a choice in these matters? This type of monitoring would be acceptable in a competitive job market where employees could choose the level of surveillance by their prospective employer, but in today's commoditized job market, job environments tend to homogenize across company lines, which is ripe for market-wide compliance.

Huckabee's pledge to send illegal aliens home is not only unrealistic, it is embarrassingly pathetic. Having said that, his chances of getting the Republican nomination are equally pathetic. It would be wise if Huckabee saved what money he has left, and donate it to a charity of his own choice.

No absolutely nothing wrong with it. It seems like the only people that don’t like being monitored are those that have performance problems. Point in case, today’s Philadelphia Inquirer highlights 45% of Pennsylvania high school graduates can’t pass math and reading competency tests and in urban Philadelphia 7700 out of 10,200 graduates couldn’t pass the tests. WOW… now we know why teachers hate the no child left behind act… we should be arresting teachers and school administrators and charging them with fraud, then drag them into civil court and get back the tax money we paid them.

Jack,

I think we as human beings need to dig deeper to find our humanity these days, and this is a step as far in the opposite direction as we could possibly go. We need a follow up entitled "It's Gotten Even Uglier Out There (in a very short time)."

If someone is monitoring by bodily functions remotely, it better be my doctor. I wouldn't work for such an paranoid enterprise. If you want to look at my screen to see what I'm doing, that's fine and that technology exists and has for years. Beyond that "It ain't nobody's business but my own".

Don't anyone look now, but they're doing it in some places

The fact of the matter is that too many people get by in the workplace by doing the bear minimum. That is one of the main problems with the country, everyday it is built deeper into the fabric of the nation and that is dont work hard, because someone else is working harder for you. A system like this would hopefully help raise productivity, although the verdict is still out.

Jack,
Land of the free and home of the brave my foot. land of the apathetic and spineless, would be more a more correct description of this place. Wake up people! Maybe we need a little insurrection in this country. Hasn't anyone read 1984?

Jack,
I'm guessing this is aimed at the "Cubicle" work environment. Back in the days of the dinosaurs, when you & I had real jobs & supervisors, we actually interacted with our bosses throughout the day. I'm glad my "employee evaluation" won't be done by a spreadsheet.

good boy Huckabee, i think all aleins should go home . it's like we're being invaded by something new everyday..but one thing you can say they stick together where the white people don't.... i guess this will wake some people up but it will be to late......have you noticed anything thats stamped with USA on it is a good product. the others always let you down.......oh well just think about it.....MAKE SENSE?

Is production at Microsoft bad enough for the employer to need to know how often their workers go to the bathroom, if it is then they should just fire all the lazy jerks and get some people that want to work productively. But even if the workers do their jobs to the fullest, and they did this, i would think, more then i do now, that Bill Gates is a kind-of a creep.

A private employer should be able to monitor employees however it wants. If they cross the line, they will realize it when they don't have any employees left. This is one of many examples where people seem to want big government to step in when the market could handle the situation just fine instead.

I think unless Americans start to take Responsibility for their actions this could become the norm. America is seen as an Obese and Ignorant nation...

Frank
Louisiana

I won't be a robot.

In the old days, there was a guy with a whip to encourage you to row harder. Now a guy can use the whip remotely. That's what I call PROGRESS!

This is ridiculous, first they send jobs overseas and now they want to turn people into robots?! We have to remember we are dealing with people, not a computer generated hardware.

How will I then be able to coast through a workday for a job I'm under-qualified for? Surely I'm not the only one out there!

When are we going to start standing up to Big Business and show a little solidarity ???!!!

Jack I think its great we will finally find out who Wolf is fooling around with when hes not on the air.

Jack, I never thought America would stoop this low, getting ideas from North Korea.

I dont see any problem with it at all, provided that theres also a reverse "little brother" in place that allows the employees to monitor the managers

This software sounds great....let's get our elected officials in the pilot program.

This is way too "big brother" for me! As it stands now most jobs suck the life out of you, now they want your facial expressions! More and more being a hermit is sounding like a good idea! Provided they don't give my job software to see where I went at the end of the day!

Jack :

Make sure that they hook it up at your Nuclear Plants with the snoozing guards...

Patricia

The biggest problem with this kind of technology is that it can't measure "thinking" or "creativity." Some of my best work is done in my head, before I put it on the page. If I'm measured only on my keystrokes, then I'm likely to just jot down any bad idea so that I won't be red-flagged for "goofing-off."

I think it is a reprehensible idea. We alresdy have a Big Brother government watching us. We do not need it at work. Whatever happened to trust? I, for one, would quit in disgust.

Jack with all the CEO's that have been in court, in trouble, or gone to jail who is going to watch the watcher's????

A little scary, Jack? Employers don't own their employees. What next, my boss will be able to see what I'm doing in the bathroom, just in case I don't really have to go? Where do we draw the line? I wonder if Microsoft will use the new software on its employees.

It's not the monitoring that bothers me. It's the quality of the monitors.

Does this mean they will tell us when we can go to the bathroom?

Perfect for Congress! We can now monitor their biometrics when they are required to pretend work on legislation, when on vacation taking bribes and when they vote themselves a pay raise.

Jack, we already have BIG BROTHER and I guess that Microsoft program will be his little sister. They are already trying to feed us cloned animals; spraying the air from planes with God knows what; and now monitor our every waking moment at work! Gee, we'll never be able to sneak in a nap again. That should be against the law, I say.

I would hate to see what BIG MAMA will look like:)

Jack,
Duh, Jack! It is Microsoft software. I can just imagine the software calling an ambulance because a workers computer freezes up, like it will do. Unfortunately, the fix comes through India. This is a good example of why everyone should buy Macintoshes. "Winders" freeze up; OS X 5.0 fixes itself!

Dale
Anadarko, OK 73005

If this is really considered, I think it should first be tested on ALL MicroSoft employees, from Bill Gates on down, and at the same time test it on ALL elected US officials from the President on down. See how they might like it before they try to give it to the rest of us.

Sure what a great idea we need this so bad. If we could just coordinate the Patriot Act to be involved with all spying and software form Microsoft. Then create the REAL ID to link up with your cell phone to track the GPS. Then have the FBI, and NSA set up a huge database to track people and monitor their work ability it would be perfect. Oh, wait this has already happened. WAKE UP. Too bad people you should have read 1984.

Perhaps they should take it a step further and offer electric shock to keep lackluster employees in line. And if we're monitoring metabolic rates would we be allowed to penalize workers who are fat and lazy? I can't wait 'til they insert the microchips in us!

Nate Mezmer

I can agree with the need for supervision in the workplace, but where do we draw the line? Monitoring an employee's internet is one thing, but venturing off into metabolism levels and heart rate venture off into an entirely new dimension of invading privacy.

if companies were actually making money and the economy wasn't so horrible there would be no need for such a big brother approch. ceo's would be to busy rolling in millions of dollars to care about your facial expression.

If it has gone so far as a patent. You can be sure it is and has been going on for some time now. We are no longer a "free" country. There is no private, safe place for us.,,, not even our home!

This will bring the world one step closer to the "Mark of the beast".

Jack, I've got no problem with it. I'll just find a way to hack the code and have it report that I've been dead for 2 years. Either that, or it will say that I'm having sex right now and that he should check back later! My 3rd choice would of course be to say...thanks for monitoring me, guess I should go back to work now

Jack, such software would only bring us further to a dystopia we may unknowingly already be on the brink of. It would be social injustice of the highest degree, and even if it somehow became commonplace, nobody would pay attention to it. It's foolish.

Evan
NY

Does that mean, since we're Bush & Cheney's employer we finally can find out what they have been doing? Let's go for it!

Rudy.

As with many such things, this is a potentially useful tool. However, there is a huge problem with how some people would use it. Something needs to be done about the people who would misuse such a tool.

While I might not be personally comfortable being monitored this way, I think businesses should be able to do whatever they want with their computer systems, although they should tell their employees they're being watched.

Oh great! And what will be next? Sensors on our temples that monitor our thoughts? Did Bill Gates not read 1984 and heed Orwell's warning?

Isn't the work place a public place? So why should we be worried about our privacy in a public place? Besides, privacy may well be a thing of the Past in this 21st Century and we really need to learn to live open and honest lives ... then we'd not have to be concerned about our public privacy. What we do behind our private home doors is another question and there we do or should have our privacy.

John, your assertin is fringed and ludicrious to boot.

I am no slacker, and oppose this technolgoy.

For one, it shows a lack of trust in emploees.

WONDERFUL idea!...just as long as the employees can monitor the boss, too. I'd like to know which bar to call when my boss isn't in his office.

Jack- Before you conclude that this gives Management controll over employees, consider the possible benefits to employees whose managers recognize what they must provide to boost productivity–6 weeks of vacation per year?

Anything wrong with monitoring your performance remotely? Nah. By the way, Jack, quit making those nasty gestures at Wolf, would ya. He's trying. There, how do you like it?

Jack I don't see anything wrong with the spyware as long as they hook up the President and the U>S> Congress to the spyware. After all this is the same President and Congress that accomplished nothing. Maybe the spyware will tell us why. Iam sorry– Congress did wake up long enough to vote themselves a $4100.00 pay raise!

Sounds kinda like the Patriot Act to me...tell ya what, Jack, lets go ahead and stamp an Americana feel to the name of this product...we can call it the Orwellian Patriot Freedom Eraser. There we go, now the American workplace will feel safe and secure in the arms of a megalomaniacal boss that truly cares about the well-being of his employees.

Come on Jack, you should be especially sensitive to this. Wolf is constantly having to monitor your whereabouts and remind you not to go anywhere because you have either the round table or the Cafferty File to attend to. Who needs software when you have a hard-ass like Wolf.

Sincerely,
Your buddy Buster

who will be monitoring the managers? It always seems that once you became a manager, the rules do not apply to you, but only to those lowly workers like you used to be.

I can just imagine a boss sitting at a computer monitoring the workers to make sure they are working and laughing that he/she is getting paid to do it! I would hate to see it cutting into the bosses tetris playing time.

Well, Jack...that depends. Would the American people be able remotely monitor our President? If we are going to monitor such novel concepts as workplace productivity and competence, let's start where it counts and see if we get better results.

I do see something right. Consider using it on bank tellers. It could signal a robbery in progress. Consider its use on police officers. It could send help to officers in need of assistance. Look out all those who hanky panky around at the office. What would flatulence do?

Jack, this really slaps as a big government/corporate agenda. I can't believe some of the responses you are getting. These people must be "after" my time. They see nothing wrong with it??? Aren't we as employees working enough with the cell phone invention. Nobody can leave work..........not for a minute. Now they want to keep tabs on a person 24/24. I guess 1984 is coming to fruition. Very, very scary business. I now wonder what our educational system is teaching our young ones if they see no problem with this agenda. Heaven help us all.

Perhaps the spyware could be used to reduce my health care costs if my body stats look good.–Stop laughing Jack I treid to think of something positive.

If they hook it up to all the members of congress then im all for it!

No. If you take my money you work for me. My equipment belongs to me also. I will make you aware of that equipment that I install to monitor productivity as a courtesy to you but that is all I feel obligated to do. Similar technology has been around for years and I have been using it for years. It is an excellent tool to help monitor time usage and productivity. Don't knock something until you try it. Jack. And who knows maybe CNN already has the same software I use watching you and Wolf. A smart employer would be. Don't you think your employer is intelligent Jack?

The only people who would object are those who sit on their butts and don't do their work! How could you possibly complain about someone watching you work to insure you are truely working! Too many gold-brickers try to hide from being observed by freedom-bashing. You are perfectly free to WORK SOMEWHERE ELSE so don't snivel and complain for having to work for your money, "just do it!"

Jack, just another step on the ever-shortening road to converting human beings to corporate automatons. Let your heart rate drop a bit and you obviously aren't worried enough about your employer's financial health - better they find someone more concerned. Personal privacy? Pshaw. It's all about them.

Phil
Monticello IL

Majority will have their say but the power brokers will have their way...the government is doing in the name terrorism prevention so its no surprise if the companies want to do it in the name of productivity....best option? – BE YOUR OWN BOSS

Spyware in the workplace that monitors physiology, productivity, etc., is absolutely ridiculous and revolting. Even if the employee voluntarily submitted to such a privacy intrusion, the legal implications are enormous. Its use should be prohibited by law. I am stunned that Microsoft has the gall to even suggest such a thing, let alone attempt to patent it. Well, I guess I'm not really stunnedl. After all it's Microsoft!!

Paul

what is this system coming to ? what happened to trust? we might as well just have machines take over this is ridiculous for main stream jobs and plane wrong.

Jack,

This is very intrusive period. what's next RFID on our bodies.....
I think we should turn all this mess around and place it on our elected politicians, the senate and congress and see how they like it! They are the ones that approve all this madness!

Jack, i dont see any problem with that provided theres a "little brother" in place that allows the employees to reverse monitor the managers

Jack,

You have to love it, now bosses will be creating action plans to improve your facial expressions and blood pressure. I am so glad I am approaching retirement, that is if there is anything left to retire to.

Gus

Since when do we need to worry about Microsoft software applications working as they should? I can firmly say the well being of anyone working for Microsoft is at risk. Just wait till the insurance companies get wind of this. I'll be in front of the line at my doctor telling him it's not just carpal tunnel, doc, it's Gates Syndrome and the only cure is a big law suit settlement and extended rest on a sandy beach.

It's been my experience that the MANAGERS are the ones sleeping (literally) at the helm... not the drones.

I would say "You've got to be kidding" but I know you wouldn't kid us on something this important Jack.

It's simple, IF all our bosses think they're going to INVADE OUR PRIVACY in this manner, then i think WE should be able to to the same to THEM.

Besides, they invade our privacy enough as it is. who's going to be next, our GOVERNMENT? as if they don't already.

Damn, I'm glad I work for MYSELF.

I dread something like that happening! This will open the possiblity of people having to work like machines.. Human beings aren't perfect machines and that's what makes us creative and innovative thinkers. What if someone is thinking of a unique idea at a job, gets excited and their heart level goes up then what happens, he/she gets reprimended? This is mad science..

Jack, I see a real problem, here. Where there should be trust, motivation, recognizing the contribution of every workers, boss, colleages, etc., there is doubt and cunnings attitudes. The qualities of a leader is to bring everyone together in order to accomplish the tasks needed to achieve a goal. Instead, the companies are intending to monitor there employees and investing in mistrust. I think that we should be able to communicate and to go toward a same goal.

Jack, the mere idea of this is horrifying – there is a difference between monitering workers and controling workers. This is a dangerous and terrifying step towards 1984.

The next new application after MS-employeespy will be Perfect-employee simulator. This exciiting new application will automatically provide optimal employee information back to MS-employeespy even if you hungover, missing, or even absent.

This idea is everything a Big Brother should be. It turns me from a human being into a robot. The next edition to this so called program is the body patch so the boss can shock me awake or to attention like a trained monkey. After that I wear a brain cap so the boss can read my mind and control my thoughts directly. I'm then totally 100% become a robot and can have feeding tubes or draining tubes shoved up or in various openings so I never have to leave my desk at work for ANY reason what so ever. What a Brave New World we are evolving into. Robot dogs to amuse us at home and fellow robots to share time with at work. I for one don't need a robot at home nor do I want to be a robot at my place or work. No thanks I'll pass on this whole new world we are building.

That is not new technology by any stretch of the imagination. I was at a barber shop when one of the barbers asked the Plant Manager of the company that I worked for how many men he had working at the plant, without blinking an eye the Plant Manager replied ,about half ot them. This occured at a union plant in the mid 60's. That company employed about 60 thousand men and women world wide and is no longer in business.

This is called invasion of privacy. Most companies are asking you to work from home because they don't want to pay benefits. They often tell you a good thing about it is that you can work when you want as long as the material is turned or e-mailed on time. Companies cannot have it both ways. You either pay benefits and expect an employee to show up between certain times, you send them home with rules to follow plus benefits or you let them work around their schedule and set only a deadline for when the work must be completed.

We are so busy making more rules and creating more legislation to police ourselves, we don't have time to teach and learn some basic moral principles...like honesty and work ethics. Maybe if we were true to ourselves, we could stop subjecting our neighbors, coworkers, politicians, professional athletes etc to drug testing, audits, and even remote control monitoring. Do I think there is inappropriate behavior at work...yes, everywhere. Something substantial has to be done, but it will only be corrected if we start spending more time policing ourselves and not others.

Geez...what will they think of next, remote shock treatment for employees who are not being productive? Microsoft is taking over the world, lets hope this is not implemented.

America had better awaken from it's slumber before it's too late. The powers that be are ramping up this sort of intrusive technology right now and if the citizens don't stand up and fight this pretty soon this country will be unrecognizable. If you want your country back vote Ron Paul!!!!!!!

Is this why I did 20 years in the Army? So very small and not hard could help the low life scum I work for spy on me? I work much harder than required because I think what I do supports our troops, but I still don't want management punks looking at me at all times.

Paul Stephenson
US Army retired

You are right. This is WAY scary. And, it is one more attempt to imbed the good old boy network even more strongly into our psyches. Most people in the US do their work with no help from their bosses, even training the boss that is hired to watch them. And, most bosses don't watch them. The rule of thumb is still "the less work you do the more you get paid".

The good old boys, however, just KNOW when they are not annoying us, and forcing us to monitor ourselves, we are not doing anything. So, goodie. Let's hook them up to an electronic mental catheter. Then we will know when they are working or not. Yeah, that's a good idea. And, we can allow even MORE extra pork in the budget upon which to base my next manager bonus.

It's a huge scam and now they want to back it up with invasive, de-humanizing surveillance.

Microsoft, you need to be VERY ashamed of yourself for even thinking of this idea.

Sure, I think that companies monitoring employees is fine. Well, so long as the employees can check up on their bosses as well. I sure would like to know if my boss is actually at his hour long "conference call" every day.

It seems as though technology will become the new tool to track and control Americans. It seems as though corporations are violating the privacy rights of their workers by monitoring people's heart rates, blood pressure and facial expressions. Don't we have the freedom of expression and privacy anymore. I think it is time that people start to stand up for our rights. Everyday, we let our corportocracy influence our founding values and principles. Slowly and slowly we are letting the elite have full control of every aspect of our life. How long before corporate America and our government join forces and turn our state into a authoritarian state. What if a few make that move and use all of our info and employment contracts to enslave and suppress us?

This is scary. On one side I can understand, in an occupation such as in the case of a pilot or an astronaut, the benefit of such a use of technology. However, for the average worker this would be invasive because our physical body is our own and never belongs to an employer. It is one thing to monitor a computer's use and quite another to monitor an employee's body. That is what is invasive. I would refuse to work for any employer who would use technology to spy on my body and its functioning. We need to draw a line somewhere or we will gradually drift to the point where control overpowers freedom.

This just gives us cubicle monkeys another way to have fun with the boss!

If it were a reciprocal arrangement it might be fun. Let the workers monitor their bosses. (See if there is a heartbeat!) We could take it to the next level of openness by publishing all the parameters on the corporate portal. This could build up a whole new industry by developing clever ways to beat the system.

Seriously, real leaders don’t need this technology. What matters is who produces and who does not. If they are sleeping and making money, I want the others who are sweating and failing to deliver to take lessons.

Do I see anything wrong? How about do I see anything ok about this software? These people don't know how dangerous this could become. It might evolve from just monitoring your blood pressure to monitoring every aspect of your work life. Americans have enough eyes on them what with the phone taps and other government spying programs.

They're also coming out with the Human Mouse Wheel and they're gonna be picking the most productive workers and firing the rest.

Jack,

The idea of my manager's being able to spy on me remotely is insane. As a young, and new employee in the accounting industry, I have to spend a lot of time working with financial statements by hand and making business phone calls. If man manager was to look at my keystrokes, I'd be in a lot of trouble because I only spend maybe 60% typing into the computer. Being that my managers don't know much about accounting or what I really do with my days, they would be grossly misinformed if they based what I do on my keystrokes alone. Office spyware would be extremely intrusive and would not be able to tell you how productive an employee really is. Really though, whats next after this? Cameras at every single workstation so that someone can pretend to work by watching me do real work? The world just keep getting crazier.

Hey, it's just part of what happens when you live in a corptocracy. We lost our individual rights and freedoms a long time ago.

Jack, As a senior member of management I can see where there would be abuses of the technology.

Joe, Debary FL

Jack, i think this is scary, i work as an IT tech for a a very big company in cincinnati oh, we employs Altiris to monitor what employees does with their computers. employees get angry when they realised they are being monitored.

I think this is too intrusive and voilates all the privacy rights.

Jack... This sort of thing stinks to high heaven, and definitely crosses a line of "intrusion." There is, fortunately, a solution to it: UNIONIZE! Unless we get employees from the assembly line up to middle management back into a collective bargaining situation once again, this sort of thing will never stop. It's time employees realize they've been sucked by corporations since the Reagan era with weak promises, and phony "support." Now that pensions are being cut back, health coverage cut cut back, and job security nill, maybe workers will start to wake up at last! ... of course, everyone could switch to an Apple computer too.

Duh? Do we (read USA wake up) see anything wrong?

It sure seems that the Bush Administration is trying very, very hard (and quite successfully I might add) before they leave office in a year, to trash the very thing that has made this country so very, very strong for over 200 years – The Constitution!...

How many examples do we need. Our Civil Liberties are not just being diluted but totally eliminated. Our standing in the world is crumbling and we can not seem to stop this role-away freight train of lies and deception by our First Appointed U.S. King.

Ken
La Honda, CA

How is this a privacy issue? If a company is investing its time/money in an employee, it surely has the right to monitor their productivity at work. This software is not used in the restrooms where it would be a privacy issue. I'm sure the ACLU will think differently as the are often on the wrongside of issues.

Jack

Why not build your robots instead of trying to make them out you existing employees, those whose jobs haven't already gone overseas. Dosn't management get paid the big bucks to know what's going on with their employees? It seems to me like the spy ware has more to do with increasing health care cost considering what the intend to monitor.

Bank tellers can use it to signal a robbery in progress. Police officers can use it to signal assistance needed when away from communication. Of coure office workers can be caught when they "hanky-panky". I wonder if a subtle release of flatulence would set it off???

I think most people are missing that this software would be to monitor the physical bodies of employees. The technology to monitor where they go online and how they use their computer has been around and in use for years. Sure, the employee has a warranted right to monitor how it's pc assets are used. I respect my employers right and assume that how I use my company PC is already being monitored. However, wiring our bodies up for monitoring is more than scary and seems like the definitive step over to the darkside. If I were reading a technical book at my desk, will the spyware think I'm sleeping and page my boss on the golf course?

No, and I also don't see anything wrong with Homeland Security indiscriminantly tapping our phone lines. Yeah right...I'll be sure to burn my socialist rags when I hear a knock on the door.

Some ideas are beyond right and wrong . . . they are anti-human nature. Every time we've tried system designs (and this sort of spying would be part of a work-system design) that don't align with humanness, we've caused problems. Freedom aligns, individual rights aligns, working together aligns, equality aligns . . . and we've amply observed what messes are made in systems (of any sort) that don't include them.

Spying on workmates fails to recognize the human need for trust when we are part of a team effort. A lesson we should have learned from the Japanese in this respect at least is that people will voluntarily give of themselves when they are included in decision making, trusted to do their jobs, given fair compensation, treated with respect.

So what spying boils down to is poorly designed and managed organizations shirking their responsibility for resentful or bored employees, and then coming up with a really stupid plan to make things even worse!

I believe that if I were an employer that I would want to know if my employees are being honest or using my company for individual gain, or illegal activity.

It is everyone's right to keep themselves and their own safe from intrusion (including employees), however, it goes both ways. For one, if the employee is concerned about it, he/she may be a concerning individual, and it could be said that an employer who feels he/she cannot trust his/her employees, maybe the employer can't be trusted.

Either way, I, myself would not be concerned about my employers using software for monitoring activities. If I were, I would probably be doing something I shouldn't.

"Ending hypocrisy can lead to truth, which can lead to peace." Troy Upham, 2008

I am not suprised in the least that this software exists. In a country in which our cellphone conversations, e-mails, and personal data and private conversations are monitored and poured through–why have we not seen this step coming. just another way this corporate society can monitor our every freedom and begin to take it away. its one thing to promote national security in the name of patriot but quite another to fullfill corporate agendas and make us somehow think its good for us and to feel more secure. Last, wake up people, our personal freedom is being taken away day by day.

~Wade Ellis
Chattanooga TN

Republican on Texas Supreme Court INDICTED for insurance fraud. Texas Supreme Court Justice David Medina, a friend of Alberto Gonzales, and a Republican appointee to the Texas Supreme Court was indicted today for insurance fraud claiming he set fire to his own house for the insurance proceeds!

I love technology! The only thing I see “wrong” with this new monitoring system is that it should not be directed at the rank and file but rather at managers. This technology you describe would suffer a meltdown if it monitored the mismanagement at one particularly large central Illinois university.

Are they nuts? First I read on the Drudge Report that we are going to be charged for how much we use the internet and now we are going to be hooked up to machines at work to track our progress??? What kind of world are we living in? I love innovative technology, but not when it strips of us our civil liberties. Ron Paul would never stand for this. Something big is going on here and the American people haven't caught on yet

The politicians are the ones that need to be monitored !

Orwellian fears over this technology are unfounded. There are far more effective “old” technologies (closed-circuit cameras, etc) for monitoring or snooping on employee’s productivity, if you really insist on being that asinine a manager. Besides, it’s less effective and based on conjecture… what if my heart was racing at work not because I’m playing online poker, but because I *really* love filing reports at work?!?

Jack , The gov. has been doing this for a long time, they have been watching everything i do. they control my phones,internet , my type of job i have , if my car runs . dont laugh , everyone better open there eyes before its to late. BIG GOVERNMENT ,BIG BROTHER/CONTROLLER , On the political side RON PAUL has my vote, you have agreat day, c-ya

UNIVERSAL HOUSING CALCULATION.

This is an Analysis of the Cost to House.
Basic Human Necessities, Running Water.
Enclosed Compartment, for Eating, Storage, Sleeping.

REVENUE.

1. Home Business is Significant.

2. Home Business Administrative Business Functions Require
Enclosed Compartments, Hydro.

3. Home Owner Finance.
Home Ownership is essential.
Mortgage/Mortgage Algorithms should Engineer Complete
Home Ownership, Efficiently.

UNIVERSAL HOUSING.

1. House Owners, Apartment Building Owners, Condominium Owners.

2. National Accredited Housing[Building] Inspectors.

3. National Housing Construction Scientists.

If you think thats bad, how about what Daily Kos had today.

Oh this is just priceless. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screeners are learning to recognize a special set of forbidden facial expressions. If your face slips into one of these during a TSA inspection, you will be taken aside and given a more detailed screening:

Travelers at Sea-Tac and dozens of other major airports across America are being scrutinized by teams of TSA behavior-detection officers specially trained to discern the subtlest suspicious behaviors.

[....]

TSA officials will not reveal specific behaviors identified by the program–called SPOT (Screening Passengers by Observation Technique)–that are considered indicators of possible terrorist intent.

But a central task is to recognize microfacial expressions–a flash of feelings that in a fraction of a second reflects emotions such as fear, anger, surprise or contempt, said Carl Maccario, who helped start the program for TSA.

"In the SPOT program, we have a conversation with (passengers) and we ask them about their trip," said Maccario from his office in Boston. "When someone lies or tries to be deceptive, ... there are behavior cues that show it. ... A brief flash of fear."

* webranding's diary :: ::
*

Let me quote from George Orwell's, Nineteen Eighty-Four (Part 1, Chapter 5):

He did not know how long she had been looking at him, but perhaps for as much as five minutes, and it was possible that his features had not been perfectly under control. It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself—anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide. In any case, to wear an improper expression on your face (to look incredulous when a victory was announced, for example) was itself a punishable offence. There was even a word for it in Newspeak: facecrime, it was called.

I don't know about you but this is pretty darn scary. I mean what is a "forbidden face?" Maybe I am just pissed off or in a bad mood. Will they flag me for that facial expression? Heck do we even have any evidence that this actually works? Who did the testing? Who did the training?

I'd also feel a whole lot better (and safer) if the TSA actually acted as though there was this thing called the Constitution. Or that it mattered to them. I mean are we not protected from unreasonable search and seizure? Don't we have the presumption of innocence? If I need/want to fly for business or pleasure do I have to give up all my rights. Well I guess we know the answer to this last question.

"1984"

USSA Anyone?