Bussiness 121 Unit 5 Discussion: Who is Watching You?

Unit 5 Discussion: Who is Watching You?

Information technology has become an important and necessary business tool. Can you even imagine a business not using some type of technology? How did we work before we had the Internet and email? How did we even live? However, with all the advantages of using the latest technological tools, there are some disadvantages.

Consider the following: Do you want one of your employees spending half the day surfing the Internet, chatting with friends, or downloading unauthorized programs? What about phone calls to friends and to customers? Do you want to know what employees are saying to your customers? What about monitoring key strokes on a computer and checking web sites visited?

Note: In the ECPI Catalog, there is a full section on "Computer Usage." This section references what we can and cannot do on and with the ECPI computer and network systems. Most companies have such rules and regulations.

In your post, respond to the following points:

• What employee monitoring policies exist in your state? (Laws might vary from state to state, so use the state where you reside.)
• What sort of employee monitoring tools do companies use?
• How important is it for a company to keep its records and data bases safe?
• Assume you own a small business employing about 100 people. All have access to computers and email and the company network and database. About 20% of the employees are remote or offsite. These employees also access the company network and database. How would you monitor all employees - both onsite and remote? How far would you go?
• When you reply to your classmates, examine their opinions and views about monitoring employees and compare these opinions to your own.