Australian Tax Office Seeks Keylogger To Combat RSI

schliz writes "The Australian Tax Office plans to track employees' keystrokes and mouse clicks in attempts to address the growing incidence of repetitive strain injuries (RSI) among staff. It hopes to purchase commercial, off-the-shelf 'pause or exercise break software' that delivers safety messages to users, while determining 'more information about the nature of computing use in the workplace.'"

Comments

Keystroke counter != Keylogger

[Billlagr]

Umm...no. Nothing to see here, move along. From TFA -

use of the proposed software would be voluntary and intended only to count keystrokes and mouse clicks rather than the content of the work being completed

Re:Keystroke counter != Keylogger

[mjwx]

Umm...no. Nothing to see here, move along. From TFA -

use of the proposed software would be voluntary and intended only to count keystrokes and mouse clicks rather than the content of the work being completed

Not surprising.

If the ATO is already monitoring its workers to the nth degree, why would they be announcing more monitoring.

I once did some work for the ATO, you need a background check to enter the building, police clearance to walk around unescorted, you are told up front everything you do and say is recorded, a joke can land you in court, you can be charged if you casually read something off someone's desk. You have to check in and check out with security. No photos, there are area's where you're not even permitted to carry your phone at all.

I dont believe in the slash-conspiracy that the gubbermit is bad and evil, all this security is necessary, the ATO has the largest database of the personal details of Australians, from car purchases to monthly pay stubs and there are corporations that would kill for that kind of data, the ATO's mandate is to keep it safe.

So I fully believe that this would be for OH&S (Occupational Health and Safety) because 1. Australian Government departments are very big on OH&S and 2. If the ATO is not already monitoring their own computers to a paranoid degree, they're doing it wrong.

The obvious man behind the curtain!

[Dutchmaan]

In related news, the Australian government will be placing monitoring devices inside phones to monitor decibel levels and signal quality.

Workrave

[Compaqt]

Works great.

It's available for Win and Lin.

You can set times for mini-breaks and full breaks separately. Full breaks lead you through a configurable series of animated exercises.

I can vouch that they really do work if you do them diligently.

It allows you to (configurably) cancel or postpone a break, but it's geared toward locking the screen so you you're less tempted to skip breaks. You can even set a max time on the computer per day plus log work/breaks on the network.

Click here to install in Debian/Ubuntu/Mint

And it won't help...

[Todd Knarr]

Keystroke and mouse movement information won't help. The information you need is "What hand/forearm position are the typists using?", and software can't record that.

To quote my typing teacher, "*smack* Wrists UP!".

NB: proper typing position has the forearms parallel to floor, back of hand flat relative to top of forearm. Raise or lose the seat to achieve this. Fingers should dangle onto the keys, if the first fingerbone is horizontal your seat is too low and needs raised slightly.

Re:RSI or...

[thegarbz]

RSI is not a bandwagon, it's not something you can use to get a day off. Quite simply because it's not an issue that appears and disappears overnight, it's a long term problem. My girlfriend really loves her job at a bakery, but after years of preparing the icing on donuts she now can't make that movement without physical pain. Other movements are fine, and she still beats me at tennis, but that specific wave of the hand that is repeated over and over again when icing a tray of donuts is completely out of the question. She is slowly recovery now. She has been banned from icing for the last 12 months and is moving onto other activities.

I like my job too yet quite frequently I'll spend all day typing some crap long-winded report. I don't want to do that in pain down the line. But I likely won't have that problem. My office is assessed frequently by ergonomic specialists. Last time round they got me a bigger monitor for no other reason than every so often I cram too much stuff on the screen and lean forward slightly. But then I also have back problems too.

Ergonomics is a serious issue. Treat it like one.