Eyes on You
BOTH YOUR COMPUTER AND CELL PHONE COULD BE RATTING YOU OUT
By Penelope Wang

(MONEY Magazine) – Uh-oh, the boss is onto you. That's the message from a recent survey on workplace monitoring by the American Management Association and the ePolicy Institute. The key findings:

• R U READING THIS? You probably know your company has the right to read your e-mail at work. You may not know that, odds are, it's doing exactly that. All the time. According to the survey, 60% of businesses use software to monitor e-mail and instant messages. It's common to scan for particular keywords (those that might be harassing or refer to business secrets) or formats (like résumés). Software can also capture snapshots of your computer screen--which means that your boss can read your personal Hotmail account.

• CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? More employers are monitoring the time you spend on the phone, as well as the numbers you call; some 51% do both, up from 9% in 2001, according to the survey.

• ARE YOU THERE YET? Your boss may use GPS technology to track you outside the office when you use a company car or cell phone. Eight percent of businesses say they use GPS to check on company vehicles, while 5% use it to monitor cell phones. Assume Big Brother is watching. Don't use your work phone or computer for anything you'd rather your boss didn't know about. --PENELOPE WANG