One IT guy at work accidentally revealed they use an activity monitoring software. I immediately went to my contract and there was no mention about that. I prompted management about it but they are ignoring all my emails. I posted this on other subreddit but had to delete it because I only received attacks and hundreds of comments like:
– you should always assume they are watching
– it's their equipment, they have the right to do it
– they don't owe you an explatation
– you shouldn't expect privacy at work
While those statements can be true to some extent, everyone missed the ethical aspect of it: why not tell employees explicitly they are being monitored? Why not getting their consent?
Knowing the demographics of reddit and by some of the commenters' own admission, many work in IT so, to me, they could be trying to justify their work.
I know there are legal aspects of it too but those vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Where I am, they still need to notify me. Other jurisdictions require consent.
My point here is that it's unethical to spy on workers without telling them exacly what info is being collected and how it being used. Unfortunatelly, it seems my coworkers don't care much about privacy.
Why do people accept this kind of invasive treatment and even justify it? I sometimes think workers are the real problem for accepting this kind of surveillance.