It seems God no longer has the monopoly on 'seeing all'.
This article on the New scientist website shows just how much your bosses know about you. (An advert will appear, describing a car no scientist could afford. The close button is at the top right).
They know every Email, every MSN message, every website you visit. It's not restricted to the time you're at work or the use of the company's computers. Your bosses can demand information from newsgroups and fire you if they don't like what you've posted.
For most of the world, you won't be told you're being monitored. You might not even be told why you've been fired.
What I found particularly disturbing was the use of hidden cameras in lavatories. I'm glad I work from home, otherwise I'd have to hold it in all day.
I've never even considered going on one of those reality-TV shows, but it seems reality TV has spilled out into real life. Big Brother really is watching you. Orwell was right.
There is an upside to self employment. Nobody spies on me but me. There are no cameras in my bathroom. Nobody can demand to see the contents of my desk. I don't have to keep records of the websites I've visited. If anyone is upset by anything I say on this blog, tough. I refuse to fire myself or subject myself to disciplinary action, so you'll just have to take your frustrations elsewhere.
I wonder though, with all this surveillance, whether any ghostly manifestation has ever been captured on one of the cameras that document our daily lives? Unfortunately we might never know, because to show such footage would be an admission that they are spying on their employees.
An admission? From the administration? That would never do!
4 comments:
Cameras in the lavatories? Eww!
I can almost - almost, but not quite - understand why and employer might want to know what you do on their computer at work. It is a sue happy world.:(
But following you around on the internet during your off hours and collecting info on you. That's outrageous!
Any chance we could get a few poltergists to visit the electronics of those smarmy jerks?
I think putting cameras in bathrooms and locker rooms is illegal in the U.S. But of course, that won't stop someone who really wants to do it. I've wondered about it every time I've gone into the ladies room at the casino 'cause you know they have cameras everywhere.
I wrote a blog entry on this subject once in my "other" blog. (www.southernwriter.livejournal.com/ 8416.html) One of the things I ranted about was a friend who had to take a drug test to apply for a job (which is mandatory literally everywhere over here), but they didn't stop there. They wanted to film her peeing. Years later, she's still unemployed. It's crazy what employers are allowed to do.
I can't argue with drug testing for jobs. Anything that discourages drug use has to be a good thing.
But filming someone peeing has got to be abuse, surely? What happens to that film? Is it going to end up on one of those 'candid camera' shows? Are they going to threaten to leak (bad pun) the film unless the employee does what they're told?
At that point, for me, the interview would be over. Whether or not I'd passed the company's criteria, they'd have failed mine.
"They wanted to film her peeing."
Kinky interview process!
Vulgar jerks. Can't they just tell a potential employee is high by looking? The rest of us don't find it that hard.
If they really need to know if someone's been high in the last six weeks, hire them on a probationary basis and take a good look at them each day.
Okay, maybe make them pee in a cup if their job is something really vital - like airline pilot or the guy in charge of the button that starts a nuclear war - otherwise...
Post a Comment