Presence Systems Number One On Federal Wish List

coondoggie writes to tell us that top among feature requests for any next-gen communications system among federal network managers is the ability to identify and notify employees in real time. "Federal interest in presence technologies 'may come from the fact that agencies want to know where their workforce is to be able to look at the effectiveness and the efficiency of what they're able to do,' says Aaron Heffron, vice president of Market Connections. 'They want to be in contact with them at all times.'"

Comments

This will be the end of civilization

[LowbrowDeluxe]

Seriously, no one gets anything done in any job with their manager looking over their shoulder. Just think about it, every time the boss wanders into your office you stop what you're doing. And if you didn't, they'd start in with 'advice' until your productivity was shot to hell anyway. key-loggers and such are another great example. Any place I've ever been that used key-logging people spent more time trying to either get around it, or do the bare minimum WPM than they did in actual honest work. An invention that lets a boss micro-manage every employee on a second-by-second basis is going to bring our society grinding to a halt.

Note that 'emergency response' was listed first

[going_the_2Rpi_way]

Before everybody gets all worried about employee privacy (which I agree is a legitimate concern), consider the applications this would have for first responders, particularly in cases where more traditional networks and or critical infrastructure components may fail.

Until a specific application is discussed, dismissing the technology as invasive seems premature.

Re:Note that 'emergency response' was listed first

[HomelessInLaJolla]

The answer to your question points directly to the fundamental importance of the 9th and 10th Amendments and, similarly, to the fundamental importance of a strict interpretation of those two amendments. As it is possible to abuse all manifestations of power over one's fellow men it is of significant interest to the freedom and liberty of all to limit the vesting of authority and power into the hands of politically affiliated figures to an extent that provides them with the ability to fulfill their duly appointed Constitutional without granting them the overt ability to exploit the citizens over whom they wield political power and influence.

Analysis of the importance of the 9th and 10th Amendments and their relation to the historical abuse of power by those who are empowered leads to a root level understanding of why our Federal Government is unconstitutional, has engaged in historical hand-washing to create an illusion of legitimacy, and why said Federal Government of the United States of America is no different from any other fascist government across history which has preached the empowerment of the citizens and their will while, at the same time, stripping them of all rights and powers and using them as unwitting servants to the greater profit of the ruling class.

This is a great idea!

[Anonymous Coward]

Lets start with congress.

Re:Because gosh...

[mooingyak]

I don't get why you had to make the distinction between an employee and a "citizen".

Because it's a much different issue if an employer wants to track their employees while they're supposed to be working than a government tracking its citizens. That the employer in question is the federal government should not matter.

Re:Micromanaging

[Colin Smith]

Well then. I guess the solution is to sit on your arse and do nothing but whine about the situation.

Re:Motive of initial investment

[Miseph]

Perhaps he was implying that the people directly responsible for destroying things in spectacular fashion (read: the actual troops) are very competent at doing so, but that as one gets further away from that job description (read: officers, chain of command) one also gets further away from competence. In other words, it's a bunch of guys who are really competent at breaking stuff who are horribly mismanaged and frequently tasked to things which involve not breaking things.

That's pretty much the same story I've heard from all of my military (former and current) friends.