Web at work: Not YourSpace

'A little bit too Big Brother-ish'
While most employees accept the idea of monitoring for security, “when we start using it for workplace efficiency, that becomes a little bit too Big Brother-ish for most employees,” Ponemon said.

Employees have “absolutely no expectation of privacy when using the company’s computer system,” said Flynn. “In the U.S., the courts have consistently supported employers on this issue.”

ArcSight is among the companies that provide security software and solutions to government organizations and businesses. Its clients include the Defense Information Systems Agency, Securities & Exchange Commission, Verizon and Xerox.

“The point is, whether it’s an internal or external threat, is to give an idea at any given moment of what’s going on in the network, who’s doing what to what, and should they be doing it? said Brian Contos, ArcSight’s chief security officer.

“One plus one doesn’t always equal two,” he said. “Someone who’s looking at a job Web site from work, that may or may not be an issue. Maybe they’re trying to hire somebody.

“You can’t treat everybody like they’re under a microscope,” he said.

Impact of younger employees
Many younger employees entering the workforce are pretty wired on their own, not needing a company computer to Web surf, but doing it from their iPhones or BlackBerrys.

Problem solved? Not quite.

“We might have an e-mail address, and perhaps a couple of telephone numbers and a mailing address," said Contos. But, "the next generation" probably has " three or four MySpace accounts, 15 e-mail addresses and who knows how much of everything else.

“They’re communicating through multiple channels. Go ahead and plug 1,000 of these people into a corporation, and say, ‘Can you tell me what Bob Smith did today?’

"Now you’ve got to look at 15 different identities, physical access, telephone lines and things like that. It can certainly become a security problem.”

John Challenger, the chief executive of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which issued the March Madness-worker-loss-of-productivity press release, said he understands why some employers are more liberal when it comes to allowing workers to surf the Web unfettered.

Those employees, he said in an interview, are recognized for “their focus on output and the quality of output.

“Employers know those employees are taking their cell phones and their laptops and their BlackBerrys with them 24/7, and are working while they’re commuting, and working on vacation.”

“Then there’s another group” of employees, he said, such as hourly workers or those whose work is confidential, whose Web time should be tracked with the “sophisticated tracking systems” that are available.

“There are employers who are concerned about how much time is being lost, and as the technology becomes easier and cheaper for them to track their employees, they’re utilizing it,” he said.

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