Employee Monitoring App Tracks Keystrokes, Microphone, and Screens without you knowing.
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If they don't trust you, they don't respect you. Period.
Sources -
ruclips.net/video/qYBgOrMEIeo/видео.html
news.yahoo.com/boss-could-watching-now-employers-134116010.html
When I first started a job after graduating my cohort (fresh graduates) used to have crazy stories like -
1. The company tracks turnstile ID card swipes
2. How long you're 'away' on Microsoft Lync (Microsoft Teams precursor I think)
3. Keystrokes and mouse movements
4. Citrix login/logout etc.
5. How often non-work websites were visited.
But I thought it was just dystopian at the time.
I wouldn't be surprised if our overlords actually put it in use :(
14:33 They talk about trust while finding ways to spin this in a good way. So yeah, who are the ones that aren't going for trust. It's not "monitoring" its "increase productivity". How can trust be build when you desperately want to explain away what you are doing?
This software looks like a jackpot for a corporate spy. All they have to do is get ahold of the admin account.
Literally like saying "steal all our IP here," on a sign
By being able to watch all the employees...it even makes it easy for the spy to set up their own copy cat company to continue using the IP themselves.
Jackpot to make what China CCP regime puppet corporations already do...easier. To plug the holes that are created using normal copy and spy tactics
@@claudeyaz Indeed. That's a very strong argument against this garbage software. CCP loves this for sure.
Any manager who has the time to observe their employees this intensively needs to have their own productivity called into question.
100%
If I worked for a company like this, I would never feel like I am really part of the company. I would feel like I am a keystroke away from being fired.
Missing the point. Tracking software replaces management, entirely. Chat bots, behavioral psychometrics… skin tone, flushed , eye tracking, facial recognition & emotion, tone of voice & infection, breathing, digging, & blinking, it’s all open source code built as plug n’ play. It’s all about selling software as a service to people clueless enough to use it.
Omg!!! YES!!!
How much time do you spend on these TPS reports ?
As a European I'm happy that a company using such a software would get sued/fined out of existence over here.
Yep! I'm in the U.S., but once worked for a global company with offices in London. The company tried to install Sapience on everyone's machines there, but they found out it's illegal. I was jealous of the folks in the UK. :)
i'd hold out hope someone would actually do the honourable thing and hand down repectable prison sentences - say, 1 yr mandatory minmum per count. spying on twenty employees? 20 yrs incarceration, one after the other. business will quickly fall in line and stop the micromagmt bullying.
I can speak for a lot of co-workers that a French owned company in the US seems to send its most micromanaging French managers here. We always figured it was because if they didn’t, their French employees would break out the company guillotine.
@@drunkenoctopus6311 😂😂😂
But then the European union has heaps of bureaucracy
It's funny you said the thing about "what kind of programmer makes this" . When I started as a programmer over a decade ago, I told myself I would always turn down creating employee tracking software, or anything else evil. I'm happy to say I've turned down the opportunity several times, and always will.
What I learned from this video:
-cover your webcam when not in use
-unplug/ disable your mic when not in use
-have a tablet/ second laptop nearby for personal use, or just use your phone
-keep moving that mouse!
Create a VM cause the malware continue in your non working hours
Can't even use your phone, government watches that.
I wonder if the bosses and mid managers will be sharing their productivity with the employees as well, you know just for the sake of fairness and transparency.
Then they would work in the cubicle to boost "collaboration". But I haven't seen any executives office without separation from other 99% of workforce
Managers are like the aristocracy in the middel ages: rules, shaming and punishments apply to the peasents not to them.
Yeah, lets get this software on their machines and let all the investors access it. I'm sure they definitely wouldn't find that invasive, and none would have issues living up to the standard.
Of course not... they never want to follow the same rules as the plebs...
I think we all know what the productivity of most middle managers looks like...
I love how this software is premised on the idea that employees might be untrustworthy, without its creators acknowledging that the same applies to employers using this software.
gads, man, have you lost yer phukking MIND?! everybody who's anybody knows full well employers are JOB CREATORS. they are of a higher realm, man! have some spect!
🙄
What employer would buy such software? "I'm brilliant, it's the peasants who are lazy"
I know alot of CEOs who when faced with bad results, conclude that it was in fact their leadership and decisions made were the reason for failure and would not blame the employees. /s
@@agrandcanyonoffucksgiven2776 Is this before or after they escaping on a golden parachute.
As an I.T manager myself I've been avoiding tracking software like this since its a plague to the overall business. These topics come up and the answer is no Thank God! Trust issues man.... Trust issues..... Time sheets and thats it. Joshua I'm with you %1000
It's a terrible tool for micromanagers.
Yup! It's Ebineezer Scrooge Tool is what it is!
Luckily company I work for doesn't require yet. I'd probably be looking if they do or just don't care and not change my habits
I guarantee you these closed source applications are hackable by anyone looking to sabotage the company.
Please refrain from blaspheming.
Can you imagine if your company's plan for protecting IP & security was to give the keys to the kingdom to a shady spyware company that can monitor literally everything you own?
I'd trust my worst employee more than I'd trust any of the companies that build these shady products.
oooh, right, it's also SaaS, so the spyware company also get's all the juicy data.
Yeah totally not a problem.
Probably illegal in the EU.
Oh But my company does. Our IT is in Putin Country! They are our remote IT. Gotta love Global Corps. Thus, install spyware, employee monitoring, and 2FA just to gather data on the employees. No way for US to know. It's all happening in another country to doesn't abide by US laws
finally a man not on drugs!
and then also storing that data in the cloud.
Ikr
Employers have been spying on employees for decades. At my first development job back in the late 90s, my boss called me into the office one day to ask me why I was emailing another company about a new job. I told him "well... he's offering me more money. Why wouldn't I email him about that?" Ended up getting a raise out of him spying on me. Still sucks to do this though.
Ha. Good story.
Indeed, monitoring is not a new concept. The difference is that back in the 1990s it was done for a reason, now it is done just for the sake of it.
Sure, that doesn't mean we have to accept it.
This will be the new normal until its improperly setup by morons and results in identity theft. They don't have foresight to see it being hacked and creating more liabilities than regular in office monitoring. I think of Accelion and related services used by fortune 1000/500/100 to cut costs until it hits the fan. Any HR staff reading this and thinking of preemptive response (via contracts-you can't sue us if we mess up and get your info jacked because of our spyware), I hope the poo lands in your hair.
@@johnleff7119 that's what I'm thinking... I also wonder how many tracking/monitoring development companies have that as a business use case, as in they are purposely deploying on these mega corps to get all kinds of data from client companies. When I look at this software, I see all kinds of 3rd party code and back doors. I'll go ahead and predict another SolarWinds hack on companies using this tech.
What doesn't seem to be talked about is the productivity lost by the BOSS. If your boss is watching other employees' computer screens, they're not getting any actual work done.
Haven't you seen Office Space? That movie shows the reality of what it is like, most of the time. The managers are stupid, incompetent idiots who don't know what they are doing and are not capable of learning about the work done by the workers. They put on a fake show of looking like they're working, and leading their team, by weighing workers down with worthless paperwork that contributes nothing, scheduling worthless meetings that accomplish nothing so they can look like they're leading, and interrupting workers while they're working.
@@eitkoml Troof.
@@eitkoml there’s also the fact that these incompetent idiots also take all the credit for good work done by those under them, work they had absolutely no hand in except for pointing at what to do. Sometimes those poor workers don’t even get noticed, I’ve seen so many “appreciation” meetings where they aren’t even present....
Other aspects of the bosses job may have already been phased and this is what a paycheck entails as the same is being dished. .
After about 20 years working, I'll tell young people you should not have any loyalty to any organization, they will turn on you in a second when its convenient and fire/replace you. Also to ensure no slavery, young people dont get married and dont get a girl pregnant, make sure she takes the birth control pill daily in front of you and both wear protection. You will just condemn your new child to increasing poverty and freedomless slavery and these control/money/job trends worsen. Promote this idea in videos and social media to help prevent more young people into this new slavery.
This isn't about trust, it's about control.
That's exactly why I quit FedEx. I thought the truck cameras only recorded so they could access it in case of an incident, but no. Two months went by, and my boss started accidentally saying stuff he would only know if he was watching me on camera.
Crazy, out of curiousity what kinda things? "oh hey btw tell your daughter happy birthday" or some crazy ish
@quekumber Yep. Exactly like that. I was getting frustrated with other drivers, and I said out loud, "Who cares, I'm quitting anyway." The next day, my boss comes up and says, "So, I heard you were quitting." I just couldn't believe he was so blatant about it.
They are doing it at my job as well. This is getting out of hand. There need to be limitations on this sort of things.
@@jjmcwill1881 Most definitely. I was fine with it when I thought it was an accident camera, but when I found out it was a live feed going straight to my boss's smartphone, I quit the next day.
The unmentioned part about all of this is that this type of software SLOWS THE HELL out of the work computer.
It kills the whole point of "security" in your organization too.
@@OverG88 Good luck even getting a job with software like this on STUDENT computers rigging the tests and certification process. If you haven't bought the answers already to complete it within the already inexcusable time frame.
Yeah, the corporate spyware really slowed down my laptop at my old job.
They had to upgrade all computers to 16gb or ram because after boot up and before starting any business applications it is already 11gb of Corp spyware.
Orwell's 1984 was simply "spoiler alert".
I love you
Spot on
More like Blade Runner rather than Orwell. Orwell is government running the world. Blade Runner is about corporations running the world. Of course the lines get blurred since corporations/government start to get merged so either ends up correct when they become one entity.
@@edwardroh89 hahahahahahaha hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe hohohohohohohohohohohoho lolololololololololololololololol
@@donkeyhobo34 You made my day, hehehe cheers.
This is overwhelmingly invasive. I cannot believe this isn't illegal, especially if they put this type of "software" on an employee's personal machine or phone.
If it is their machine, their rules. My machine my rules.
It is illegal
Right to privacy in your own home and not having to answer incriminating questions/incriminate yourself is literally in the constitution. I’m not a lawyer but “I don’t think you are working and if you don’t let me spy on you in your own home I will fire you” sounds like invasion of privacy based on entrapment to me
It is illegal in Europe.
It isn't just mega bad for employees, but it's also super bad for business. If your organization is using any kind of password authentication, it's useless in this case. Why so? It's because all your passwords, tokens, secret keys... will be cought by this tool and stored somewhere as plain text.
I’ve worked for large corporations and I remember when something like 30% of my coworkers in sales were placed on probation and lost their annual sales bonus because they didn’t document working “enough” before 10 am and after 2 PM. Keep in mind this was a field sales job with daily travel….all throughout the day and working through lunch was typical, not to mention nonstop training after hours.all monitored through the tablet device. It was a disgusting environment.
You must work for same company I do. Those dorefeitrd bonuses due to lack of productivity while on the road doing sales most likely went to VP of the company lol
I worked for a company that did this, even accessed my camera that I had to disable my camera.
Here's how it changed my work:
1. I was always on watch and made sure to type something, interruptimg my thought process
2. Because used to how it works and gamed the software ( productivity was almost non existent)
3. Started hating the manager
4. Did only minimum job required
stop thinking - start typing!
do it!
hahaha what a bunch of fools.
How did you discover they accessed your camera? Also can you install an anti monitoring program?
Do you remember in Dexters laboratory the episode where Mandark was spying on Dexter’s computer and kept yelling “typing!” until Dee Dee walked by and distracted him
@@zerozer0z camera light most likely or shutter click sound, such are anti-pervert technologies. Yes there are ways to install anti-monitoring programs or even more simpler to gain access to the bosses credentials. But with the Intel Management Engine putting secret processor chips inside every computer this might become the norm everywhere for every machine maybe even a hidden network of the Internet.
Accessing camera and microphones of Remote Workers who are working in their homes is VERY problematic
If a company puts this spyware on your box, leave. Abusive relationships are never worth keeping. Being paid for it doesn't change that.
This is absolutely insane, any company implementing this is writing their slow death sentence. No normal person would ever survive in a company like this, only work pretenders who will spend all their efforts gaming this system, everyone will absolutely start to hate their job, even I they liked it before that. This software is going to end up costing them a lot of damage. Really sad story
"Employers should notify the employees of the tracking..." it should be ILLEGAL to do this without the notifying employees. Im pretty sure it's illegal, at least in my state, to put cameras up without notifying employees
If this software motivates workers, why isn't it mandatory for all of management, even the CEO - shouldn't it motivate and produce a better outcome? I will never accept this anywhere I choose to work. The second they put this on my computer, i'm out.
If CEO can monitor his managers with it, then it will be.
If The Board can monitor their CEO with it, then it will be.
Also, unlike employees (organs), the CEO is CRIMINALLY legally liable for the company and its employees.
This shit is absolutely insane. If you work somewhere that implements something like this, leave immediately. The mental gymnastics that companies use to justify using software like this and how they spin it as leading to more productivity is asinine. Screw these companies.
It's illegal in many countries to use this software. At least in Europe.
Every company in India
I quit. And I have been never been happier
How do you know if your company is using employee tracking software? (Have had my own company for 5 years so I don’t know)
Im working in Video game industry, we have 2 softwares to monitor productivity that one for internal and another one for client side. everyday we need to enter how much time i worked on certain files. on Wednesday and Friday a production guy. call directly to my phone and ask how much hour i worked for past 3 days. its insane to me work on this shit corporate job.
Joshua was joking about monitoring blood pressure and anything else, but frankly it's the next step: monitoring stress, motivation, engagement, and also any mood, through analyzed video meeting and real-time computer camera.
What could go wrong?
Finally! Software which allows abusers to remotely abuse - I have an old boss who’d love this
Wouldn't this just favor programmers who write longer code rather than those that write code that is more concise? Longer isn't always better. The same thing applies to a good book. Ernest Hemingway is known for his brevity. Stephen King is not.
The objective of a programmer is not to write code, but to solve business problems and then apply them via code. If he writes 50 lines or 500, it is irrelevant and not a measure of his productivity or effectiveness.
I fucking hate Stephen king. Imagine having good set ups, halfway through losing the plot, then shitting the bed at every ending
@@RandomRUclips123 That's the point - this crap monitors keystrokes, not effort.
I knew a guy that was paid per line of code at a previous job, same boomer mentality. _That way, I know you're actually working._ He was an *awful* programmer that wrote bloated, slow software.
Who needs comments when you can make the variable a comment?
This can only be used against you. If my company installed this, the clock would be ticking on me getting a new job.
Wow, here in Germany it's not allowed :) I'm happy for that. It's very invasive and people don't function well ""motivated"" by fear. Fear always means less energy for the actual work
Yea I know that the EU has some problems (I especially can’t stand France) and I’m a student right now but I’d love to work in the EU, for many reasons, but escaping this kind of horribleness would be a great plus ))
I worked at a place that monitored everything we were doing behind the computer. Someone was hired to sit in a room and just look through logs all day and keystrokes. It was one of the most toxic environments I've ever worked at. It sucked.
"If you're not typing, you're not working." I don't know where this mentality came from. I remember my high school computer tech teacher had a big poster in the classroom that said "Typing is not a substitute for thinking." Maybe some WFH folks should hang a poster like that directly where the camera will pick it up.
your tech teacher is cool
This mentality comes from psychos. Plenty of them on earth ....hahaha
Just protect yourself from this disease.
Man one of my colleagues got fired because the tracking software didn't record required amount of keystrokes. He works with many clients and he attends meetings all the time. Rules like these are just absurd.
My boss specifically told me to slow down because if you are going to fast, you will make a mistake and it could cost the client money, as well as flack if it doesn't resolve properly. That mentality of constantly being busy is dumb.
As the brilliant Jacque Fresco said: "The minute you punch a time clock, you are getting under a dictatorship". So, thanks again Joshua Fluke for bringing up this type of issues which have got so normalized in this money-hypnotized society. Thanks for sharing a little bit of questioning with RUclips audiences.
RIP Fresco. I remember visiting Venus Project in Florida when I was really young.
Dum dum, corporate slavery is a part and parcel of democratic countries, not dictatorships
@@aeganratheesh you're right: There's the standard usage of the term dictatorship: that one that refers to a ruler in a country, and there's its antonym: democracy/ democratic countries. However, in Jacque Fresco's quote the term dictatorship is used as synonym of oppression. Few words like dictatorship illustrate so well what it means to be under constant control and constriction. In that regard, standard democracies are full of small dictatorships here and there, everywhere. For example, as George Carlin used to say, in so called democracies, people are sold the illusion of choice. And that's a "smart move" because, as Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe also said: "None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free".
@@advsonhere not really as you think....
After about 20 years working, I'll tell young people you should not have any loyalty to any organization, they will turn on you in a second when its convenient and fire/replace you. Also to ensure no slavery, young people dont get married and dont get a girl pregnant, make sure she takes the birth control pill daily in front of you and both wear protection. You will just condemn your new child to increasing poverty and freedomless slavery and these control/money/job trends worsen. Promote this idea in videos and social media to help prevent more young people into this new slavery.
Micromanaging another human being will only lead to an outburst or violence. Nobody needs a work mom. Politely tell them how to do the job, correct if they misstep. If they're not good enough FIRE them. Monitoring someone's behavior 24/7 is a good way to get an ex-employee to slash your tires weekly as their new job. If you go out of your way to make someone's life hell they'll dish it back at you x10.
As a programmer, I think it's maybe about time to discuss making judgements about whether we're using our powers for good or evil. Long past time actually. I would never personally work on a piece of software like this. I think it's about as much of an ethical violation as say doing psychological experiments on participants who are unaware.
It’s literally like in The Dark Knight when Morgan Freeman accesses the cell phone cameras of every one in gorham
Many developers are simply being used as tools to build a cage around us all. Especially when it comes to track and trace applications. Developers need to seriously wake up.
@@BlackRain_ Personally, I tend to work on things with more of an operations focus, but a lot of the devs I work with will write a piece of code to add some new functionality, and they seem more interested in the fact that they created something than in what it's going to be used for.
I've thought about this for a long time, there are too many Traitors working on projects like this selling out for money but they are creating a dystopia.
@@HamguyBacon Developers who are building Vaxxine ID applications or Track and Trace applications are the literal enemy of humanity and freedom. They are building the infrastructure to enslave their own children.
Psycho CEOs claim it boosts productivity. Total BS. This only makes people more concerned about "right thinking"and quantity of keystrokes, than on actual work being done.
I would also ask if the CEO has it installed, because if it boost productivity, CEO should have it installed too right? Then naturally employees need to see CEO logs so they can learn how productivity increases.
@@makesnosense6304 they have an unwritten rule : do as I say, not as I do
Of course the CEO knows monitoring is a waste of time and ressources. But he can argue about these neccessary costs to the next meeting with the shareholders. Sometimes CEOs do not actually, in practice, represent the interests of the company that hired them but their own interest.
Because productivity is measured by activity. It gets workers to input more keystrokes, that’s it. I suppose I could use a script to fake my keystrokes.
I worked somewhere before where they had this on the company computers. I was called in twice for a disciplinary meeting for not doing enough work.
- Once was a day I was on leave.
- The other time I was in three back to back meetings with clients...
I also got in trouble when the next day I told the client I was meeting with I needed to leave the meeting every five mins to type somthing on my computer. The client found it hilarious but didn't renew their contract, partially because they didn't like the employee monitoring.
HR: "Where were you? Our keystroke Algo said you were gone for 10 minutes"
Worker: "Had to go to the bathroom"
HR: "You missed the optional in office ice cream social that's mandatory for home workers to attend via zoom, you're fired."
What kind of milk-free ice cream was available at the ice cream social for lactose intolerant people? "Uh......we didn't think of that....." (true story)
Manager: "Go to the bathroom on your break"
true story, HR actually had something to say about that, so they aren't completely useless, just gotta learn how to use the rules to your advantage
key word: optional/mandatory
I would prefer to be fired from there than to have another moment of being tracked by intelligent idiots
No, that's when you tell them that they are fired
For about a year I was given the responsibility of monitoring employees using similar tools. I did it for a while but absolutely hated it. It became way too invasive. Ended up quitting shortly after.
I used to work for a few different trucking companies that used driver facing cameras. These cameras detected if you were tired, took your eyes off the road, eating/drinking, cell phone use, fumbling with the radio, even yawning. The cameras are connected to real time gps installed in the truck which also monitors braking, acceleration, steering, seatbelt usage, lane departure and of course records audio. I quit the industry as a whole 2 years ago and almost every carrier since then now has them installed in their fleets. All in the name of safety. Of course I have yet to see a CEO of any of these companies install a camera inside their personal or corporate owned vehicles. It’s an absolute joke and this type of micro management will creep into every facet of labor there is. Best thing you can do is work for yourself or one of the very few decent companies left.
That is horrible. Seems like trucking at least long distance, one of the perks would be being able to be in the semi privacy of your own truck talking on the phone or listening to the audio books.
oh yeah - this is another "instant quit" signal to me. Be interesting to see how long until stuff like that becomes a hacking target. Think of the great harvest of both personal and corporate passwords and trade secrets that live in that software....
And I LOVE the whole "if you spin it well, your employees are simps and will eat it up!"
I would also ask if the CEO has it installed, because if it boost productivity, CEO should have it installed too right? Then naturally employees need to see CEO logs so they can learn how productivity increases.
@@makesnosense6304 CEOs don't do anything tho.
@@makesnosense6304
True enough.
The better question is - "Who in this company does *not* have it installed, Mr Boss?"
Whatever they reply will undoubtably be some sort of deception, but it will be entertaining to watch them show false-empathy and false-concern for the inquiry.
HR and Middle Managers want to justify their jobs.
It's also them that want us all back in the office, rather than working from home. They know they're on borrowed time.
"Why can't we find loyal employees anymore? It's like there's no more trust these days." -Corporations,
Society is showing it's control tendencies in full force these days. You are doing good work.
Too many managers and above clearly don't understand just how much of the creative / troubleshooting process is just staring at the thing, or putting the kettle on, if you're so inclined.
Too many managers cannot manage shift. They are simply too incompetent and they are chosen for the position because being incompetent makes them easier to manipulate.
So true. Quiet reflection, mundane activity, even boredom is scientifically correlated with creativity and problem solving.
I don't know how many times I've solved a problem on a walk or in the shower.
Just resign when your boss starts monitoring you, this kind of bs is just a direct attack on your self respect. I resigned from my previous employer when they started monitoring us. Now I work in a company where we work remotely, there is no monitoring or time tracking. And everyone is so much productive.
if you are aware of it. That's what bothers me most how do you even know.
11:50 don't understimate the lengths creeper software devs would go to track/monitor other people. They're also more common than we would like to think.
This reminds me of those high School teachers that wanted you to be working on something all the time regardless of whether you needed to unlike some other teachers that they gave you your work you finished it and then you could just do whatever you wanted because you finished it
Thank you! Respect goes both ways
This might be illegal. What if you have to send SSN, bank account or some other confidential data to the accounting department, or some medical stuff to HR that you don't want your manager to see. No one should be able to see your screen without your knowledge.
I would say it is illegal in any country that has any form of privacy laws, for this very reason
EDIT: the guy says employee monitoring in the US is legal. Yes, that's true. To monitor employees. But that doesn't mean everys aspect of this software is legal.
That's massive HIPpAA violation and against the law.
For transparency, the developers should make the software itself alert the employee when they are being tracked and can't be disabled by the employer. At least that would give the employee a chance to not be heard talking to the co-worker next to them about something private, etc. that may not even have anything to do with the company at all. Employers aren't entitled to know everything about your life.
since this software company and their customers are all about transparency, the software companies should put their client list on their website so we know which companies are using it.
These kind of things stress employees, and that usually leads to lower productivity. Especially for developers and creative employees. But I can really see it being useful for monitoring bureaucrats and employees in the public sector ;)
Yeah as a software developer I 100% would just start poking keys and my mouse every minute to keep it alive lol. In reality half my job is drawing designs and state machines on my notepad to plan what I'm going to code, so if I knew I was being monitored I'd have to stop doing that in favor of looking like I'm working harder... Lol. Can guarantee my productivity would drop
Remember now, "productivity" is a generic word for a lot of companies! Being productive doesn't necessarily mean that you produce *quality* work; for some places you just do a large quantity of work that can be charged to a customer or client unfortunately. "Ethics" is another generic word too. 😑 BK
Spot on. At a point in my life, I worked as an assistant to a personal injury lawyer. This lawyer believed in hiring underqualified people (I was one of them) and training them herself to be able to underpay them.
She also praised everyone who worked "really fast" and was "productive"... the only problem was, these people made TONS of mistakes that put some of her cases in real jeopardy later on.
Yet I was the one who got chewed out a lot for not working fast enough... despite the fact that my work never resulted in any mistakes. I wanted to actually be thorough with what I was doing, and would also spend time correcting my co-workers mistakes if I happened to catch any. Didn't do that because I cared so much about that exploitative lawyer potentially losing money, but simply felt bad for the clients whose cases could have gotten ruined as a result of her poor practices.
its simple. Productivity its measured in results, not in the means.
Solution: always use a VM for external work, allows you to monitor what they are monitoring and restrict their access.
Or better, you shouldn't work with people you don't trust.
What’s a VM?
@@SYKhitzENT virtual machine
Or you could just use your work computer for work instead of using a VM.
Any company that uses something like this needs to be put on a list
I'll quit instantly if my company ever gets such ideas.
My ex-construction boss have secret microphones in their service trucks.
I did earlier 😂 now the project fall as I was the main lead and developer
@@ericli2936 I've been WFH for years and use a ton of profanity when I code. It would be funny AF if they were monitoring me.
@@ironmonkey1512 haha same
Many. Companies are doing it by stealth. They just don't tell you
Companies: “Let’s reward constant work done without much forethought.”
Also Companies: “Why won’t our employees create proactive solutions and innovate?”
Creativity is periodic. It is not a linear process. It is lumpy and requires series of phases which may or may not relate to keystrokes. Over time, I’ve learned that it isn’t worth being creative or innovative unless I can make it one of my “goals” in our HR system for the year.
HR doesn't give a damn about creativity or innovation. You are rewarded for your perceived loyalty not your competence, similar to the nazi officers in WW2
You sound like me... I'm a creative person (video editor/producer) and I work for a company that has absolutely no creativity about it.. I've learned over the course of 15 years that you cannot expect those without any creativity whatsoever to understand how the creative process works.
IDK if you read comments on your old videos but just wanted to share this since it perfectly fit the subject of that video.
When I started my career in IT ( Software Engineering ) I was working for a company that did some hardware and software for "industrial security", mainly ATC and banks. They once asked me if I could write a software that would monitor "screen activity" to use in ATC ( Air Traffic Control towers ) to check if everything displays correctly and cover up for "technical issue" - like when the software just hangs on one screen, if someone is modifying software, slapping something on top of required view etc. ( Do not ask me how much truth there was, I would say none ). Since I was just a junior and it was my first job I did start working on that spyware without hesitation. I worked on this project for about 3-4 months, changing and adapting to every change in design papers. After I was done with coding I was perfectly aware what kind of software it was, It was a perfect spyware that could monitor every employee screen silently. To give you a hint on what this software did, It started by loading configuration file from the server with minimal disk, network and CPU usage so that it would not be detected easily. After getting configuration ( blacklist of applicaitons, required and blacklisted programs, websites etc. ) that software started by gathering userspace information ( displays, resolutions, apps etc. ) and started to monitor which window is on top of which and calculate "percentage" of blacklisted things visible on top of required ones. So if you would watch a youtube video on a 320x240 window within visible area it would trigger an event that would be sent directly to the management server. That server gathered all of the informations, made statistics, provided remote access to the machine on our own protocol etc. This thing could "guess" if you're watching or just listening content on youtube or other .. things just by analyzing raw random pixels on the screen based on the windows handle of the corresponding window.
These spywares are currently used in many companies around Europe so just be cautious.
For employee monitoring all you really need is a MDM so you can lock down the computer if needed and possibly some data loss prevention software so employees can’t copy company data elsewhere.
Anything else is overkill and invasion of privacy
10:22-10:25 Let me correct that for you: If you bring your own computer, you should expect 100% privacy, 100%. I don't care what the company policy is.
Crazy. I would absolutely be miserable. This takes micro management to new disturbing levels. All the more reason to work for yourself.
FULLY agree with everything you mentioned. Thank you for the video and the information.
Dude I love your channel. Thanks for doing this.
If managers have so much time to micro-monitor their workers through these tools, they are obviously not spending that time strategizing, planning, preparing, leading, motivating, developing, resolving problems, and on and on. Another distraction for "management" to justify their existence.
I'm a manager and I barely have time to track what my staff are doing at a micro-level. I have weekly meetings to get a quick summary of my team's performance and we discuss how to work through any issues and improvements.
I think working from home actually provides solutions to most of these problems:
1. Put one of those plastic shutters over your camera lens. What, are they going to tell you to remove it so they can spy on you, better?
2. Shut off your onboard mic at the software when not using it (if monitoring software can bypass that, it truly is fucked up)
3. Work in the same space as your personal computer. Do the Reddit and the RUclips on the personal after just swiveling the chair.
Monitoring software is super fucked up. But if we can't stop its implementation, we can at least throw a damp rag on it.
1. Yes, yes they will
or get a vn and install it on a vn
@@ThePrimeMinisterOfTheBlock
1. uninstall driver.
2. if questioned, tell it is broken/you have no idea why hardware (webcam/mic) isn't working.
3. ???.
4. profit.
@@bracco23 Company laptops: Allow us to introduce ourselves.
@@MiGujack3 make sure to first disconnect from your network so the monitoring tool can't collect any data then on windows if you right click the windows icon on the bottom left, go to device manager, pick the web cam or microphone and under the drop down for the device uninstall the device driver. Then just turn the wifi back on and work normally.
**Potential Caveat:** This might only be able to stop web cam and microphone level monitoring. And on every windows reboot, the drivers are automatically reinstalled and ready to go. So just rinse and repeat the same process and if they ask you to send the device to IT to check the device, make sure to reboot it. They won't be able to find the issue.
Pretty sure this sounds like wiretapping....actually, if an employer does listen into your conversations with other people in your house or even in the workplace, then that DEFINITELY wiretapping, which is illegal.
It’s like this:
Company: “we don’t trust you. We need to monitor everything you do. It’s only to protect our assets and productivity.”
Me: How do I know you won’t abuse this software?
Company: “Trust us.”
Yeah, right. Well, don’t pretend to be surprised when your toxic little company starts bleeding staff faster than you can find new bodies to replace them. People have a tendency to give you what you expect and treat you as you treat them.
I quit a job over this. My boss had software that took a screenshot of my screen every 3-5 minutes and tracked my inputs. Why even hire people with those types of trust issues.
Same!
I can imagine virtual machine (vm) software gaining popularity as a means to avoid this. If I had an employer really expecting me to install invasive surveillance software, I would just handle all work/surveillance in a vm and start searching for a new job outside of the vm.
Were do you get this software? I don't need it myself but I know a couple of kids planning to go into the software job arena. Going to give them a heads up.
i mean you re just going to seem like you re not doing shit
I'd take it a step further and configure my computer to duel boot in addition to that. Then on my dedicated work OS I'd delete the drivers for the camera and microphone.
You guys underestimate the devs of that 1984 software. They can implement VM detection pretty easily, also notify your overlords when drivers are not working.
Having zero data for a single worker would be a huge red flag. You’d want to implement some sort of script to give them a ton of useless data. There are “random noise” web surfer apps out there as well
Also, seeing stuff like this, I have an immediate desire to go to my work machine and do a audit of all the services and startup applications on the device, verify each one., and disable any that are.....too invasive
Too late Matt. They already know that you watch hentai in between calls.
@@blackwater7183 haha. You are so funny. Assuming that was your attempt at humor. Or maybe it is, in reality, you projecting.
I just went through something similar. Your video gave me power over myself. She did everything your ex did. Lesson learned. I’m more focused now on myself, my goals and dreams.
Thanks bro
You’re doing God’s work brother. Thank you for your content.
Seriously I needed to see this video. I've been just applying anywhere for a work from home job now I'll be thinking who is going to monitor me...
knowing that my key strokes are monitored, I feel like I would totally troll my boss by using some ridiculous passwords.
Explains why I couldnt send important emails at my former job. Sometimes I thought it was just paranoia, but this helps me out on my career Journey in finding a trustful work space. Thanks for the video.
Not to mention how EXTREMELY abeliest this is, like I know several people with varying ways of working, but ALL are productive and go beyond getting the job done. For example: ADHD, not everyone has the same capability to focus like this would demand, and applying methods to focus sometimes one needs movement or breaks. Also physical issuse: like thrombosis issues, and one may need more movement than just a standing desk can provide and have to stand away and stretch acordingly.Heck, I'm severely asthmatic and on bad days I need to step away for 15 min- not always on convenient lunch time and do a nebulizer treatment(I can do it at a desk but it takes about 5min to prep). Those are just a few things off the top of my head I can think of.That programmer who's promoting this is falling short in realizing people aren't machines you can monitor into productiveness. People are people that require respect and consideration.
Yep, exactly. Even with 'Right' to Work states, if you have an official diagnosis of ADHD or another ADA protected disability, they would need to provide reasonable alternatives (aka fuck the productivity metrics as a basis of reviews or employment) or face a lawsuit.
I heard it as _Terrormind._ And I stand by my first impression of it.
Whenever I discover this sort of software on my work equipment I just disable it. I have never had HR come to me and ask me to turn it back on, what are they going to say, "yes we monitor you and need to see everything you do, you have no privacy"...!?
You can also sue them for it right?
I have been inside one large international company trying to do this kind of tracking and the reason was that managers were incompetent (managers not talking to their people, not trying to improve problems) and the company was having bad results so they did not fire those managers instead they were searching for this kind of tracking solutions.
A former boss of mine said that every workplace has its own kind of totalitarianism. I used to work happily for a few years until a new overbearing overseer came along. Then I was eventually canceled. Yet, companies have a legitimate concern as to how their computers and other equipment are used. If you are job hunting, love-hunting or engaged in politics, then use your mobile phone, not the employer's equipment.
Looks like a 'solution' to an imagined problem. Waste of money at the very least, and creepy af.
By MBAs for MBAs! Yep.
teramind probably doesnt use teramind even on their low level staff
I don't understand why they call it productivity... It's been shown in many studies that the more privacy you give to employees they better they work...
I couldn't agree more. Great video!!!!
IT can easly monitor what you are browsing online and its very easy to do. Im just saying you dont even need tracking app.
Can confirm, as someone who helped managed IT infrastructure. Though it's none of my business unless Upper Manglement would demand that I pull activity records and such from the user. Always be IT's friend if you can help it
Technically it is available only by http/https proxy without app and now when you work outside of corporate network it is harder then earlier
@@Greyer2k If you are in office, the router of the office can log your all DNS requests with web addreses. If you are working from home and use corporate VPN (which is very common), all your DNS requests can go through via the corp VPN and thus the corp router.
@@otapi VPN works in other way. When connected it announce list of the routes and it might work as you said, but you still able to manage it, I.g don’t use VPN route as default one. And usually it announces only routes to corporate network because company doesn’t want to pay for your internet traffic
@@Greyer2k Well, my wife worked from home during the covid for one of the biggest Central Europian bank. Her corp laptop was configured to not even saw anything out of the corp VPN neither on local net nor on the internet. The laptop's only allowed connection was to the corpnet VPN server. There were no such option in the corpnet VPN client app to choose VPN server. This is not about free or home users commercial VPN services. This is a custom VPN client built in a firewall. Also, the cost of internet traffic is so low compared to the security benefit, so why would be that a problem for a corporation? The inernet cost would be there if the employee worked from the office anyway.
It's a good thing I'm watching Josh on my personal computer at home and not the working laptop. I guess i'll have to explain the 25 minute idle time this afternoon.
Well Done Josh... Keep it up!
Thanks for shedding light on this Josh. Also, Teramind’s RUclips looks like they took down all the vids that guy made lol
This was why last year when we started working from home I said they would have to provide me with a computer as mine was ‘too old’ for their software to work. I had a 2 monitor set up, a monitor for each computer 😂
One day they gonna measure cpu and ram usage to check if you been working hard. That's when we need to write inefficient code and run Prime95 in the background.
Not only would it be used to monitor you in “real time” but they can go back through your entire history to find ANY reason to terminate you and avoid paying unemployment.
I'm so gald that I work in a country where managers won't ever tell you that you've checked social media or watched a video on YT, unless you are doing it for hours or it's hurting your overall job performance. It's all about being human and understanding that we are not (and never will be) perfect. We need to wind down for 5 minutes sometimes, we need a break, we need to do some private urgent stuff. I can't do it on work infrastructure because I work in big banks that have everything blocked, but it doesn't change the fact that sometimes I'm doing not work-related stuff during work (on my phone or tablet). Do I deliver all my work on time. Absolutely yes!
I can only see this being good to use for DoD/Defense contractors, PCI & HIPAA machines to track information and prevent leaks, anything else is wrong.
That’s a terrible idea from DoD perspective. Most of secure work is done on an intranet rather than the internet and this would almost certainly be a massive back door into a ton of sensitive information
@@johnrichison1197 only if the service is hosted on the internet, I could see these vendors providing a version that can be deployed internally on an intranet. It’s more the idea of monitoring computers for audit, compliance and loss prevention purposes that I agree with rather than the implementation. But you could also host it in a government cloud (like azure) and make it work only over a secure VPN connection. As long as it’s not my job to implement that, I’m good :)
I'd see it working on school computers too
Trust other corps to want this, just for the sake of having it.
Not even that because you undermine your own security measures by monitoring clients.
All great if you use super hardcore encryption when the "productivtiytool" logs the key.
There was an executive when I worked at Subway who everyone knew liked to watch the cameras at random restaurants and reprimand people who she found slacking off. That absolutely caused a level of fear in the employees; I can't even imagine having *this level* of surveillance.
How come managers, executives, Board members, and CEO never have to share what they’re working on.
If tracking employees and making them work from office increases productivity, then we must also track to increase productivity.
I like your videos and appreciate your work Josh, keep doing what you do 👍
Employees surveillance must be illegal.
What really bothers me of things like that is how often that kind of surveillance will conduct to wrong conclusions where neither the employee nor the employer wins.
If that type of surveillance really would increase, quality, productivity and relationships, it would be great
Dude would you put your wife/gf under surveillance 24*7?
@@aeganratheesh That's a good analogy actually. Any relationship where you feel you need to watch their every move is a massive red flag that the relationship is an unhealthy one.
It's ridiculous, first time I have seen such software was back in 1998. Yeah it's not new, but back then it was targeted at software consultant to record what work they did for a client and have backup evidence for the billing process. But now it's backfired on us. There's always two sides on a medal.
I'm sure some companies abuse this, but it or a similar tracking tool (like a more advanced version of Apple's screen time) could be a very powerful data analytics tool that employees could use to track how they are performing in an objective way.
A lot of things are legal, doesn't mean you should do them.
I used to have a script that keeps my cursor moving to avoid screen being locked when running a long script.
Looks like adding some random keystroke, maybe add some Copilot would probably make it more realistic. But this only works if they only looking at metrics
@@srjwari Brilliant! You can record your work from the day before and play the video. They are usually not smart enough to notice what you are doing
This is not about work, it never was, it is always about pretending to work.
@@srjwari i actually record myself and use OBS virtual camera to play the video in big meetings that barely require to talk. It works well most of the time except when boss makes a bad joke everyone laughs and I just don't give a damn on camera.
Not exactly what you are talking about but that's the mindset😂
Record yourself, open up a page with some lengthy documentation and have your mousewheel slowly and randomly scroll up and down the page. Big Brain move.
As a current employee I have always wondered how much my company actually tracks me. I don't recall anything major being mentioned about employee tracking in the employee handbook I was given but I have noticed every several hours while during working hours (whether I am working remotely or in office) a notification pops up on my screen saying that current usage is being updated and sent to your administrator (I have also noticed the same message pop up on coworkers and my boss's computer at times). I do feel more comfortable knowing that my boss is likely being tracked as well. I have never been questioned by anyone for what I am doing on my computer, even when it is not work related, as I presume the tracking is not actively managed and is there as a precaution to ensure the safety of the companies software since external transfers of software or ideas would be very damaging to the company I work at but I am not completely sure. Would feel more comfortable if my company directly stated what they were tracking but even if they did so I would have no way of verifying anyway. At my company I am pretty much forced to use the company computers since the servers and software I work on can only be accessed with company owned property. At least I have never been asked to install monitoring software on any of my personal devices and have never had to tell anyone why I left my desk, nor be required to use a webcam or keep a time sheet, while working remotely. Still scary knowing how invasive monitoring software can actually be.
I love this video! Thank you for doing this video. My employer uses Power BI to collect data on employees work. What they don't see is all the red tape employees encounter that keep them from finishing projects ...repeated issues that never ever get resolved. Some are massive quality issues when we report to FDA. Lack of SOPs or follow through are not monitored. What is .... The employees output!
And monitoring....omg since Covid, they are always looking for new ways to monitor employees. Now they want to use employees personal cell phones to do the same. I said no way. I'm in CA and if they fire me, I have a class action lawsuit for them forcing employees to use their personal cells for business purposes to monitor employees and sell their data!!! Or use it to fire them, and or state now employee cell is used for work purposes, now employer has right to search and confiscate phone if they are concerned ...bc it's for business purposes. And when you put company mandated app on your cell you now have by doing so agreed to have your personal device searched. Which is in their policies if you dig through it...but in their policies they also refuse to reimburse employees for Internet, utilities and sell phone use while running their corporate business. Invasion of privacy everywhere! To use employee data to sell to marketing firms.
Bottom line these companies that use this garbage treat their employees like slaves, as if they own everything about that employee. Bc now monitoring your every single breath is ok. Monitoring noise in the room of a remote worker, put BS apps on employees cells for the betterment of the business to track the employees every move and where they are at them and putting them on 24/7 GPS. They now how full access to your internet, and utilities free of charge. But hey the business corp is worried the about employees screwing the company. I think it's actually the other way around!!!
Ugh! I totally agree we the your video, but really hits home! Boo!