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Hotmail: Not Safe For Work?
silentknight writes "According to MSNBC, web-based e-mail providers such as Yahoo and Hotmail may not be a haven for your private e-mail anymore. At least not while you're at work. SpectorSoft is introducing eBlaster, which aims to "secretly forward all e-mail coming and going through such Web-based accounts to a spy's e-mail". Corporations will most likely argue that, because of sites like Internal Memos, companies need to keep a tighter grip on the information that flows in and out of their companies. But attempting to spying on private e-mail?? In the words of Homer J. Simpson: "Butt out, Buttinsky"."
The time you spend at work, you ought to be working, not sending personal email, making personal calls, or anything besides work-related stuff.
Now this becomes a little tough because we aren't automatons and have lives outside of work that need tending to. However, to expect that what you do within the walls of your company is private is laughable.
Just assume that everything you do there is under surveillance. Heck, all your thoughts are already belong to them.
I have been pwned because my
The best way to make people rise up against this is simply to encourage employers to try to apply the goals and reasoning of software like this against traditional communication services.
How many people you think would be cool with their employer listening in on their personal phone calls, and opening all their personal mail that gets sent to the office?
Apply it to everything, and people will understand that this is an encroachment on what we currently have, not a reasonable measure for dealing with a newish technology.
"Old man yells at systemd"
Their computers.
Their network.
Their time.
Their money.
'nuff said.
slashdot!=valid HTML
Yet, when a doctor, or lawyer, or any other professional service performs "hours" (I put it in quote because everyone knows that they generally grossly overstate their hours), I don't have the right to monitor their PC during the hours that they are working for me. I find it an interesting paradox that so many people will proclaim the "Yeah, well if you're doing the hours for them!" when so many other examples show that to not be how it works.
If an employee isn't pulling their weight, warn them and then fire them. It's as simple as that. I understand corporations getting a little annoyed by weenies forwarding internal emails (which is reprehensible and they should be punished), but most justifications are for pathetic, over the shoulder monitoring.
While I understand that a computer is company resources, I believe that responsible use should be acceptable and big big brother should not be there listening.
Blocking or intercepting email is more or less the same as listening in on a phone conversation. Yes, I know this horse has been beaten to death here but it's still ridiculous.
If you're not allowed to make personal phone calls then I can understand them not allowing or even monitoring personal computing use but for communications, email should be a protected medium.
You're leaving out one major point -
When we (meaning the IT department at my company) monitors what users are doing, either on the internet, or anything else, they're not just doing it on company time...
They're doing it with company computers.
So it's feudalism at work; democracy on your own time.
Your words could apply just as well to someone justifying plutocracy as the logical system of government for a nation -- the wealthy landowners get to make the decisions, because they literally own the country. Somehow, in these modern times, we've decided that that's just not acceptable anymore. Why do we still put up with it at work?
The problem I have with this sort of monitoring is it requires interpretations on the part of the reviewer. What should matter is whether I am creating a hostile work environment and whether I am doing my job. End of story. Mess up on either of those and you should be out the door.
These sorts of issues are very similar to consensual crimes where the government wants to monitor what you do between consenting adults.
"Only one thing, is impossible for god: to find any sense in any copyright law on the planet." Mark Twain
Many spammers just try random user names and hope they reach an inbox. And even if you open just one random spam with HTML 'phone come' code embedded in it, you are exposed and the spam starts rolling in.
There are two types of workers, those who WLL get the work done regardless of distractions and those who will NOT get the workdone even if placed in a locked room. Hire and trust good people! Big brother tactics just makes the productive people less productive and won't fix the duds.
Aren't other trojans like Back Orifice and NetBus marketed as 'network tools'? How long before anti-virus programs either add this to their lists or are somehow convinced (bought out, coerved) to intentionally keep this from their list like that did with the FBI's Carnivore program? If you purchase the software eblaster you would think it is yours ,
but that is not the
case.
Spector soft designed the software to periodicly register its serial number with there database. This way if the software is installed in one or more machines they disable your software. Sure a firewall would prevent this communication, but it should also prevent the program from working anyway. I also woant to know what level of trust would one place into a company that can then have total control of your system. Are all those emails marked 'confidential' being sent to the company president also being routed to some other location? In this case security is only as strong as this software company's security. Could someone not take over and then have instant access to hundreds of corporate zombies? Sorry, but I am not about to take that chance.
Cave, wreck, and deep diver.
Just a quick FYI
https://mail.yahoo.com
This won't stop them from tracking you, but at least your content will be private.