[10068]

[size=small]EDIT: I should have prefaced this thread by saying that I really like my job

[/size]

At my job they run an application called Witness on all of our computers. (I work in a Tech Support call center)

Witness basically records everything you say on the call, and captures a video feed of everything displayed on your PC's monitor. (yes, EVERYthing)

On bulletin boards around the office, it says:

"Witness is watching you!"

Just thought it was oddly similar to the "Big Brother is watching you" phrasing in everyone's favorite bedtime story about love and peace.

Life is odd sometimes.

 

[Jeff Guidry]

Well, since you are using their equipment, and you are on their time, you don't have much choice. I agree I would feel very uncomfortable working there, as such total surveillance is definitely oppressive. This imo is one of the central problems of capitalism and an open market: a hyper competitive market place where the difference between success and failure is a few percentage points of shrinkage or lost productivity leads to obsessive monitoring measures like these. For God's sake, let people play a little Solitare in their downtime, mmkay?

 

[cosmopragma]

That would be against the law where I'm living.
Maybe next time I complain about overregulation I better think twice.

 

[Nugget]

Yikes. Time to get a new job. If I couldn't scan Head-Fi during a coffee break I'd lose my mind.

 

[catscratch]

Sounds like the worst possible way to get people to be more productive. Employees not doing their thing? I know, let's crush morale, record everything that they're doing, dictate their every action even though we really don't know the best way to go about doing anything, and get rid of anyone that puts a hair out of line!

Idiots. I hope they won't last. I'd say get a new job, but I know how hard this can be in today's marketplace, so it may be worth it to stick it out until there is a change in management (inevitable IMO).

 

[stevesurf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sduibek "Witness is watching you!" ... Life is odd sometimes.

Ick. Workforce optimization. Call Center IP Telephony recording. Oh yes, they are watching you.

Anything you read further could get you into lots of trouble and termination since your PC is just one device that is part of an IP Telephony Recording Solution. I do not condone these typical practices; however, I do believe employers should just simply hire the right people and encourage them to be trusted and do a great job rather than micro-monitoring/managing them.

There are, however, ways of shutting down some of the services that Witness uses to record your screens. Also, I am not an expert on Witness - find one. Also, you could consider remotely accessing your PC at home with some of the more popular services, assuming they haven't added them to the "blocked" list and are not blocking the ports that this software (like GoToMyPC uses). Sometimes, these auxillary, java-enabled windows are not able to be recorded.

First, see if the screen captures are able to be located. Then see if there is an admin tool on your PC that determines the file locations. Then try to change the drive to an external one that you can take with you, even an iPod with its disk use enabled.

The "brute force technique" would be to take a screen shot of your task manager's services and look for the recording process. Then simply do a selective startup that does not run this service after startup. You do need to verify that this has taken place. Another safegard is to disable the service in the Computer Management section and remove its "automatic" startup option in the startup profile selected.

Lastly, just be really careful you don't lose your job!

 

[10068]

What's ironic about the whole thing is that I really enjoy my job. I mean, working in a Call Center can always have the potential to be frustrating, because some of what you do is going to be scripted - and/or you have to do kind of silly things required by QA.

But I always figured that every job had things like that. I hear people talking about jobs where they can kick back, listen to headphones, and just "work" for 8 hours and then go home. What kind of job are these? Your bosses don't mind that it effectively looks like you're lazy? Hmm.

Anyways, I wouldn't mind a job like that, just sit there and do whatever-it-is for a while then go home.

The other funny thing is that I probably could "break" Witness by just closing the app - it shows up in the System Tray. But of course, their IT Policy and the constant talk of Witness makes me think that if I closed it they'd try to fire me for tampering with workplace gadgetry

I almost think, though, that people exagerate their workplace mellowness. Because I can't really see any Supervisor letting you just rock out for 8 hours a day. What if they need to talk to you regarding an important meeting, or what if a President from Corporate walks through the office?

At my job I can wear basically whatever I want, sometimes I don't even shower. There's basically no accountability, I know people that haven't really done a good job in months and they still work here. But see, since it's an inbound call center, if my peers don't do their job it honestly doesn't affect me that much. The worst that will happen is a customer is frustrated for having to call back, and I apologize. It's fantastic.

 

[Iron_Dreamer]

One more thing that makes me happy to work for myself

 

[goalie35]

We just implemented a server at work that monitors all computers in a similar manner. We thought it would be funny if we called it Big Brother so we did. Some people really get up in arms when they noticed what it was called.
Aaron

 

[stewtheking]

Our interweb was monitored, but nothing else. And it was only retroactively monitored, they looked at domains we had been on, and if they weren't work-related, then they were blocked. Head-fi was soon blocked. However, all of the other stuff on the computers wasn't monitored. I guess they wanted to keep the R&D secrets secret, and not let them get put onto a central IT-monkey server.

 

[McFortner]

The Computer is your friend....

Michael

 

[Kuroyume]

well... it could be worse... in my college they blocked all right click functionality on IE...

Quote:

Originally Posted by McFortner The Computer is your friend.... Michael

of course it is... i am happy... are you happy, citizen?

hahahahaha... it's allways good to find another citizen of Alpha Complex... Paranoia is AWESOME...

 

[RedLeader]

I was doing electrical design for automation systems for awhile, and they just let me do whatever with my music. I had sr60 and my old karma and just rocked out at my desk while working. They were open and I had my phone loud enough to hear it when someone called. I had my PC let me know when I had appointments and such. Other than that I was free to rock out!

 

[Asr]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sduibek But I always figured that every job had things like that. I hear people talking about jobs where they can kick back, listen to headphones, and just "work" for 8 hours and then go home. What kind of job are these? Your bosses don't mind that it effectively looks like you're lazy? Hmm.

My job is exactly like that, except I usually have to "work" more than 8 hours a day.

[size=xx-small]Oh, and I get to legitimately view p**n at work too. (Not as great as it might seem tho - when you're in the anti-spyware business, it tends to get really annoying.)[/size]

edit: what is up this censor? ah well, you probably know what I'm referring to

 

[10068]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kuroyume well... it could be worse... in my college they blocked all right click functionality on IE...

I hate that! Mostly all it does is prevent me from doing useful WORK RELATED stuff. How often do I right click to do something against IT Policy? Just dumb logic.

At my current job they have no blocks, really. Google works flawlessly. I fix lots of caller's issue with Google