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Workplace surveillance

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Workplace Surveillance 1
Ways in which Surveillance Operates in the Modern Organizations
Workplace or employee surveillance is rapidly becoming prevalent in the contemporary
work environment. The ongoing rise of information technologies plays a significant role in the
development of exceptional methods of monitoring that requires employees and employers to
observe the structure of ethical relations that the phenomenon entails. Surveillance in the modern
organizations involves the extensive collection, recording, storage, analysis and application of
information on employees within the workplace. Private passwords, internet login, and email
messages on company’s devices can be monitored. Applying established laws and regulations to
conduct surveillance in the workplace is significant because it presents increased advantages to
both employers and employees. Surveillance operates in different ways within modern
organizations, which include desktop monitoring programs, packet sniffers, log files, and
traditional eavesdropping.
Desktop Monitoring Programs
In modern organizations, surveillance can be implemented through the installation of
desktop monitoring programs. Amsler, Findley, and Ingram (2011) claim that every time an
employee provides any input on the work computers such as typing on the keyboard or opening a
new application, a signal is transmitted. These signals can be captured by a desktop monitoring
program, which is fit on a computer at the working system level or the assembly level. The
individual receiving the collected signals such as an employer or manager can access each
activity being conducted on a desktop and can replicate what employees see on their screen
(Schmitz 2005).
Desktop monitoring programs can be implemented in two ways. The first is physical,
which involves a situation where an individual installs the software directly on the computer.

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Workplace Surveillance 2
The second is remotely that includes accessing an email attachment on a computer. According to
Petersen (2012), the attachment that contains a program that a user wants to install can also
consist of desktop monitoring software that is described as a Trojan horse, which is the preferred
program that includes an unwanted program.
Desktop monitoring programs have the capability to record every function and keystroke.
When an employee is typing on their computer, a signal is sent from the keyboard to the
application they were working in (Petersen 2012). The message is intercepted and sent back to
the designated device of the computer administrator or manager or recorded and sent back to a
text file. The person who receives the data collected is a system administrator. Employers in
current modern workplaces use the desktop monitoring program to read email, view work
activities, and see any programs that are open on their employees’ screens. Desktop replicating
software acquires images on the computer screen through seizing signals that are being
transmitted to the computer’s video card (Callaghan & Thompson 2001). The images are then
transferred across the network to the system administrator. For example, employee passwords
and deleted information can be collected through keystroke loggers. Currently, a company can
capture screenshots and full video recordings of the activities taking place on their employees’
computers without any notice. Some of the desktop programs include an alert system that signals
the employer or manager when a worker visits non-work related websites or sends inappropriate
texts (Petersen 2012).
Packet Sniffers
Surveillance in the present day organizations also operates through packet sniffers.
Computer network managers within companies have used packet sniffers over the years to
observe systems and perform analysis tests or identify issues on computers. According to Mishra

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Workplace Surveillance 1 Ways in which Surveillance Operates in the Modern Organizations Workplace or employee surveillance is rapidly becoming prevalent in the contemporary work environment. The ongoing rise of information technologies plays a significant role in the development of exceptional methods of monitoring that requires employees and employers to observe the structure of ethical relations that the phenomenon entails. Surveillance in the modern organizations involves the extensive collection, recording, storage, analysis and application of information on employees within the workplace. Private passwords, internet login, and email messages on company’s devices can be monitored. Applying established laws and regulations to conduct surveillance in the workplace is significant because it presents increased advantages to both employers and employees. Surveillance operates in different ways within modern organizations, which include desktop monitoring programs, packet sniffers, log files, and traditional eavesdropping. Desktop Monitoring Programs In modern organizations, surveillance can be implemented through the installation of desktop monitoring programs. Amsler, Findley, and Ingram (2011) claim that every time an employee provides any input on the work computers such as typing on the keyboard or opening a new application, a signal is transmitted. These signals can be captured by a desktop monitoring program, which is fit on a computer at the working system level or t ...
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