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Comment by slickdork | Hacker News Reader

I put my work computer on it's own vlan this week, no rules to talk to anything else in the network. I keep the laptop closed so the camera doesn't catch anything ether. Really just peace of mind things.

I wouldn't be surprised if there's some sort of productivity software installed on my work laptop that I'm too lazy to investigate. It's their computer, they can do what they want with it.

If a manager ever talks to me about metrics vs output, I'll likely just not listen. The advantage of being skilled labor, I guess, is you kind of make your own rules as long as you meet goals.

This situation is much more dire for upcoming generations who work low level jobs like the service desk, where metrics are absolutely hammered and abused by bad managers. I can see this breeding a generation of tech workers who have ptsd about 'not being productive', which leads to burn out before they even get to a level where being monitored stops being relevant.

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This is mostly my sentiment. They can monitor the laptop they provide. I am mildly concerned about 'company' attempting to monitor wifi traffic, which I use for other things, but not enough to setup its own vlan ( although I will admit that I am debating it ).

In my case it helps that my current boss is not into simple metrics and goes out of his way to be fair and transparent, but not everyone is so lucky. I still remember one of previous bosses, who wanted me to track average processed cases and wanted to make sure they did not know what is being measured. What I quickly learned is that people are not idiots and figure out what is being rewarded even if they are not explicitly told.

> This is mostly my sentiment. They can monitor the laptop they provide.

I don’t agree. Company surveillance of workers is very stressful and invasive and saying “it’s their laptop” isnt good enough. The worksite of most workers is theirs too, so does that mean it’s okay to put microphones in the break rooms and cameras tracking bathroom breaks? I don’t mean legal, I mean morally.

I don’t want a company microphone listening on my family conversations in the distance

I agree with you. When I said laptop, I assumed the monitoring of whatever signals go through it. I would hope that no one would suggest monitoring of external environment at my place.

For example, teams/zoom call? Go nuts. Screen shots of laptop screen. Go for it. Chat. Fine. Listening in to me jacking off to dwarf porn? Not cool.

I still see it as mostly useless. And I am saying this as a person, who worked at a place that had 'bathroom break' policy. The most annoying thing about it.. it was used as a tool to get rid of people management did not like.

> I don’t want a company microphone listening on my family conversations in the distance

Indeed. These machines should not have a built-in microphone. How do you really know if it is not listening? Cameras can at least be covered.

> I am mildly concerned about 'company' attempting to monitor wifi traffic

It is possible to do this? Also, would it not be very illegal?

> It is possible to do this?

Yes. Intrusion detection software will want to know everything about the network and peers.

> Also, would it not be very illegal?

You've likely already agreed to let your employer and their equipment do whatever they want it to do.

Wireshark can pick up any traffic on your WiFi network so they could run something similar.

Wouldn't it be encrypted HTTPS traffic?

> Also, would it not be very illegal

Depends on the jurisdiction. In the EU, very much so.

A ruling from a few years ago, and regulations are only getting tighter ( this was pre-GDPR): https://www.theguardian.com/law/2017/sep/05/romanian-chat-me...

> I put my work computer on it's own vlan this week, no rules to talk to anything else in the network. I keep the laptop closed so the camera doesn't catch anything ether. Really just peace of mind things.

What do you do about the laptop’s microphone?

> The advantage of being skilled labor

Skilled and currently in-demand. Plenty of skilled people don’t have that chance.

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