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Keystroke Logging Declared Illegal in Alberta

Posted by Zonk on from the naughty-canucks dept.

Meshach writes "The Globe and Mail has a story about how keystroke logging has been declared illegal in Alberta Canada. The ruling applies to companies using logging as a means to track employees." From the article: " The employee, who was not named, worked as a computer technician for six months in 2004. Ms. Silver said it was a job where productivity was hard to measure. 'We thought that using an objective check through the computer would be the most fair and objective way to do that,' she said Wednesday."

3 of 310 comments (clear)

  1. monitoring by Quasar1999 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I don't much mind if an employer of mine monitors what I'm doing at work while being paid. In my specific line of work, sometimes I'm asked to stay late to finish a project or meet a deadline. In exchange for doing this, I expect (and receive) a reasonable tolerance of doing personal things (like surfing to slashdot) during normal working hours. But if I started doing no work, and the employer didn't have to wait until my project got screwed, and the deadline missed by months before realising that I'm not working, then I say it's well worth it. Even more so if they get one of my coworkers, since that saves me work in the long term... Privacy be damned, as long as it's not abused, I welcome it.

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    1. Re:monitoring by zulux · · Score: 3, Interesting


      My company is works the other way:

      My employees work for 6 hours per day - they're paid for 8.
      In exchange for having 2 hours of time to spend with family, avoid rush hour, and walk in the park, I expect no screwing around. Period.

      It works! They're productive and happy at the same time. I think I'm actually getting a bargain, because they work *hard* during those six hours. They get to go home and have a life.

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  2. US centric thinking? by www.sorehands.com · · Score: 4, Interesting
    In the USA this type of activity is permitted in most situations. Canada has privacy protections for individuals which seem to limit this type of monitoring.

    [sarcasm]Why not let the employer and police monitor everything you do? You only have something to hide if you are a criminal.[/sarcasm]

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