Open public spaces, such as airports, shopping malls and other places where large numbers of people gather, are monitored to help ensure public safety and. Monitoring generally involves the routine recording of activities to warn of problems or for accounting purposes. Open public spaces, such as airports, shopping malls and other places where large numbers of people gather, are monitored to help ensure public safety. Surveillance is the selective monitoring of people suspected of having committed crimes or other civil crimes.
An example of a monitoring tool is a Remote Surveillance Trailer in San Marino CA, equipped with smoke detectors and turnstiles to determine the number of subway passengers. On the contrary, electronic building access cards have an element of surveillance because people can be held responsible for the misuse of the device. Monitoring systems that are also used as surveillance devices include video cameras in commercial and public spaces. Electronic listening devices that are placed to record the conversations of target individuals are surveillance tools. Point of sale systems that monitor customer inventory and buying habits can be ethically problematic, but the function of those devices does not have a surveillance aspect, as that term is used in this post. Employers should identify the types of monitoring and surveillance that will be carried out in the workplace and familiarize themselves with the restrictions and disclosures required for each type of monitoring and surveillance.
While monitoring is often used to track working hours and performance, surveillance goes further and collects detailed data that may include real-time activity tracking, personal movements, and even biometric information. Many employees are concerned about how their personal data is stored and who can access them. Some monitoring programs collect more data than necessary, including electronic communications, biometric information, and Internet activity. What initially began as an effort to understand and reduce the “wasted” time of manufacturing workers.
Employee monitoring and surveillance have been transformed into a technology-driven industry. Currently, there are several software tools available and implemented to monitor employee work, such as keystrokes, application usage, email communications and collaboration platforms, and even physical movements and physiological states. Nowadays, electronic surveillance can also refer to surveillance carried out through a computer or a mobile phone. For example, computer surveillance can include email tracking, Internet surveillance, and remote computer surveillance.
This emphasis on ethical and respectful oversight is not just a need, but a commitment to maintaining a healthy and productive work environment.
Video surveillance
is a common technique that employers use to monitor employee activities in the workplace. In the same way, police use cameras mounted on their vehicles to remotely monitor or record interactions between them and motorists during traffic stops. In addition, proper monitoring and maintenance of surveillance controls can bring tangible benefits to a company's overall surveillance control program. Supervising and maintaining surveillance controls can also improve surveillance processes to be much more accurate, for example, reducing false positives and detecting potential market manipulation problems and allowing the company to proactively resolve them.Some companies track employees beyond working hours, monitor their activity on company-owned devices, or place surveillance cameras in changing rooms, which raises significant privacy issues. A number of courts dealing with this problem have determined that monitoring electronic communications after transmission does not violate the ECPA. A variety of techniques are used to monitor online activity, and programs are available to record keystrokes (keylogging) and mouse movements to record and analyze the time spent, the content sent and the responses for subsequent trend analysis. Sensors apply not only to machines, but also to portable devices (and connected to other systems) that can monitor both environmental variables and those specific to people.
Because of the greater power that modern monitoring and surveillance technologies can confer on employers, it is imperative to achieve a balance between the legitimate interest of employers, on the one hand, and, on the other, the privacy rights of employees and their demands for transparency as to how monitoring is carried out and what information is collected and used. Key measures to implement the IDSR strategy include sensitizing key health authorities and stakeholders; conducting a situation analysis; preparing an IDSR strategic plan; identifying and training a motivated and competent workforce; developing national IDSR technical guidelines; implementing the plan; and monitoring and evaluating implementation to improve performance (WHO 2000b). A general concern is that, once introduced into the workplace, generalized technologies, such as IoT, can be rapidly scaled up, allowing for higher levels of employee oversight and control and, possibly, being used for more intrusive purposes than originally intended. Both employee surveillance and oversight involve tracking employee activity, but the key difference is the way in which they are used. Supporters of surveillance often point out that these devices provide an effective deterrent against crime or other inappropriate behavior, as well as a means to respond to, intercept and, if legally appropriate, detain offenders.
Taking steps to monitor employees to detect abnormal or negative behavior early is a major concern. Gartner reports that 60% of large companies use them to monitor their employees, twice as many as before the pandemic.
