Slashdot Mirror
Remote Management and User Consequences?
NNWizard asks: "I work in a large university in Belgium where the people in charge of university computer systems want to install LANDesk on every single computer connecting to the university network. The aim is to be able to manage software and provide centralized remote user support. In the old days, every department had computer guys dedicated to the department, and they knew all about the users and their needs. Now, they want to make the management of computer resources global. In most non-engineering faculties this is well accepted, however in the Applied Sciences Faculty the users are computer savvy -- they do not like the idea of giving out control of their computers to people they don't know. What experience does Slashdot have with such a situation? Was the deployment of LANDesk (or a similar software package) a good or a bad thing for the users? How were the privacy issues tackled? Were people still able to use their computers the way they wanted to use them?"
We simply use the freeware version of RealVNC. When employees first join, they have to give up rights to "privacy" for the I.T. people. We respect official business, but unless it's someone high up in the company is working on some sensitive information, we typically assert our authority as our workers should only be working on official business.
If you are concerned about privacy, I'd look into something simple like VNC if you have the management software to know who's using what computer when. It works VERY well with us and is very versatile--I can't tell you how many times it has saved our butts from having to drive 300 miles when we just put a VNC connection over an SSH tunnel at a remote jobsite.
I gotta say: As an admin, I enjoy having the ability to remotely see what's going on on my machines. If they're users' desktops, it's much easier to just get a view of their screen (think PC-Anywhere) than to keep asking them what they see now only to get half answers and useless replies.
That having been said, what the university wants to do is 1) completely different and b) a Very Bad Thing. In my case, *I* am the admin and the machines are *MINE* . The university is looking to force anyone who wants to use its network to give them root on their machines? Puh-lease. It's time for departments who don't want to lose control of their PCs at this university to start looking for an outside ISP. Chances are there's already money in the budget for it: they probably kick in to the general IT infrastructure budget already.
-J
I don't have any experience with LanDesk, but I think remote management/remote control software in general isn't so bad. If it's just remote control, that really isn't any big deal and comes in quite handy if you ever do have to call them for help.
If they completely lock down the machines and take away your admin privilges, well that's life and it can be good or bad. Most often this is only a problem if need to install software and once this has been deployed for a short time and things are running more smoothly again this, too, should be relatively painless; just call or send an e-mail and someone can type in the password and install it. This kinda depends on the strength of your IT department, though. When I was in highschool the instructors machines were secured tightly and there wasn't enough staff to assist in installing software, preventing teachers from getting work done occasionaly. That was an extreme case, though (1 guy, hired as the Video Productions instructor, doing IT for the whole building...) I would expect that in your case it shouldn't be too painful.
As a disclaimer, I am an IT guy and our engineering college at the university has it's own IT group that engineering student fees pay for. I know our professors (and students) were less happy when IT was managed by the main campus group; we're more responsive and less politically hampered.
Something to consider that may not directly apply here, but will in related fields, is the legality of a non-authorized person having access to data, even though they administer a system. Specificaly, it is against HIPPA regulations for someone to look at medical records without permission or need for their job. For example, an IT guy would not be allowed to look at a medical record on someone's screen, if, say, they remoted in (or walked by, or had network access to a share).
;-)
This is a tough line. Someone other than the authorized personnel needs access to the files to be able to do the techie admin stuff. At the same time, they should not be looking stuff up, as it's illegal and an invasion of privacy. The whole thing of "Who's PC is it, ITs or the User's" adds another party, the person profiled in the data on that system. (Usually, it's the employer's PC, but that doesn't stop users, esp. ones with Dr. sized egos, from feeling & acting otherwise.)
I've worked in a hospital using Seagate / Funk Software Proxy. We had it set so that we could remote to a desktop, but the user had to grant permission to see the screen. Usually, this resulted in a decent situaton and an understanding - the user would clear all sensitive data from the screen before accepting, and if they got surley and decided not to accept, they got pushed to the bottom of the priority list (and they knew it). In return, the IT staff didn't abuse this ability, and for the most part would rather read slashdot than check out someone's PC.