Big Brother! ActyMac DutyWatch spies on your employees

Use of this application would be illegal here in Norway. I wonder why individual rights are not as strong or important in the US.

hehe. funny comment-filled post.
It would be interesting to see what proportion of the commenters here are actually dutiful 40-hours per week workers glad to be contributing, which percentage hate their job and are actively looking - therefore not passionate, what number don't give a crap either way, and what percentage are managers who get bonuses depending on how much their employees produce.
Though unannounced spying is unfortunate, usually it is unclear expectations that result in employees goofing off. But, simple expectations that describe what you do and can be put on a list often means you're a drone on an assembly line anyway -which is what some people like. But, in my experience there is a sizable number of people out there who simply jump from job to job without caring- often crowing to anyone who'll listen how much work they're avoiding.

I can only echo what others have said: Why promote a disgusting app like this? Bah, humbug!

This kind of software is just as stupid as DRM!

I hate the thought of people being spied on, but I can understand why some employers might want to use this.

However I do believe that employees should be informed of the policy before being hired or at the time this procedure is introduced.

Does anyone know if there is there a law on the books that requires employers to inform employees that they are being monitored?

I agree that you should consider whether any activity you do would be frowned upon if others were to find out. But, as with everything, there is a careful balance between what could be considered a lack of regard for work ethics and non-productive "breather" time.
People's minds are not like computers that are content doing repetitive tasks over and over. Our minds have a need to go off task periodically to use different areas of our brain while it gets a chance to work on something subconsciously or just rest from the previous type of activity.
see: http://arstechnica.com/web/news/2009/04/study-surfing-the-internet-at-work-boosts-productivity.ars

Rather than trying to get people to work like machines, managers need to focus on influencing the environment that makes human resources more productive and makes them want to work.

This stuff is usually worked into the contract like we have the right to check blah blah.

I personally think it is invading your personal privacy (thats why we have personal privacy act) but at the same time you are getting paid to work not to talk to your friends on the net or browse the net (thats why you have breaks) i think by law you have to have a break every hr or two use those to check your email, talk with friends etc, companies won't like it but its tuff for them. I work for myself so get to call my own hours and no one cares as long as the job gets done.

Hi:

I want to use this on my moron employer and all management.

I'm sure they will want me to know how hard they're working on my behalf.

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I don't know... If you're at work and being paid to do a job, there's nothing wrong with your employer ensuring that you are doing just that. Most corporations have a policy with their employees so he/she knows that their use of computer system can/may/will be monitored.

As an employee, if you're not doing anything wrong you really have nothing to worry about. The only real problem is that you're concerned about being caught doing something you shouldn't be or wasting company resources. In fact, I know of places that monitor employee activities but don't necessarily care if they send a few personal e-mails here or there or visit the occasional non-work-related web site. It's when it begins to derail the company or department that it becomes an issue.

I still think RescueTime is the better option: http://www.rescuetimeteam.com/ They also have a personal edition that is free: http://www.rescuetime.com/

I'm against any company doing this covertly, but definitely support it being done transparently. Its more about giving an employee motivation and less about catching them doing something bad. I find that RT helps motivate me to stop messing around on the internet and get some serious work done.

Now if you'd excuse me, I have to get back to work.