Spying on employees and organizational associates made headlines in the now infamous HP scandal in 2006. Have employees learned anything? Have legislation loopholes been filled.

We live in an era when invasive spying technologies are deployed for reasons that make perfect sense, but with time are increasingly used for diverse purposes that fall outside of their original design.

Canadian technology daily, itbusiness.ca makes the interesting observation that the category of applications aimed at controlling employee web surfing currently reflects the top enterprise software sales growth.

The article entitled Use employee monitoring tools with caution, say Canadian experts

http://www.itbusiness.ca/it/client/en/home/News.asp?id=47032, states that while the Canadian PIPEDA laws protect employee information from external use, all information gathered from equipment owned by the company is fair game. Originally designed to give managers a big picture idea of employee activity, the most basic monitoring software allows them to spy on any employer at any time.  

In another article entitled Lawsuit filed over electronic searches, digital device inspections at border crossings U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection has on occasion copied the contents of traveller laptop/memory stick files and cell phone directories without providing any reason for doing so. The post 9/11 surveillance requirements, as well as the anti child pornography campaign are for some perfectly acceptable motivation for this practice. However, is it legal or ethical to appropriate random information belonging to innocent travellers with impunity?

Read the full article: http://www.itbusiness.ca/it/client/en/Home/News.asp?id=47090&bSearch=True

Coporate Intelligence Awareness demands that we be constantly vigilant as to the vulnerability of our information!