Big Brother's Watching You

Only in this case, it's not the government, but rather, your employer.

Today at work, one of my co-workers said, "Look at this, Stray Cat," and proceeded to click on a non-descript looking icon at the bottom of our computer screens. (We have several icons at the bottom of our screen, shortcuts we can use to access one program or another. I'd never really noticed this one particular icon that was at the far right of the screen.)

Well, up pops this window that says, "Tracking System." The system was inaccessible without a password, though.

"They're watching what we're looking at on the computer," my co-worker said, rolling her eyes.

I wasn't really surprised. I'm aware that most companies today do this sort of tracking.

That's why I rarely post here while I'm at work, and on the rare occasion that I do, I make sure it's on my lunch hour or right at the end of the day.

I also regularly delete all cookies (though I don't know how much that helps) because I really don't want to explain to HR that on a little corner of the internet, I lead a sort of double life where I go by the name of Stray Cat.

To be honest, I can understand the viewpoint of the employers. They simply want to make sure that people aren't screwing around on the internet all day when they're supposed to be working.

Still, there's something kind of creepy about it....I mean, who exactly is watching? Is it the HR dept? Is the president of the company sitting in his extra large office, up in the clouds, watching all of us, all god-like?

Even though I knew they were probably tracking our internet activity, seeing that "Tracking System" thingy today kind of freaked me out. It was jarring enough that I know I'm going to be even more circumspect about using the computer for anything other than business from now on.

I've noticed that some of you here post throughout the day, I assume even while you're at work. Do you ever worry that your employers may be watching your activity -- and might call you on it?

Do you think employers have the right to do this?