Reading Passage 2

　　Is Someone Spying on You ?

　　Spying on your kids in your home is one thing. But what about when your employer snoops on you at work? Big Brother is almost certainly watching you. A staggering 82% of major U.S. corporations admitted to electronically monitoring their employees, in a recent study conducted by the American Management Association (AMA)。 But it's not just worker efficiency (browsing ESPN. Com while on the job) that companies are monitoring. Many employers worry that they'll be liable for sexual harassment and other charges brought against employees who misuse e-mail and other Web-based communications. The case of Peter Chung, who was fired from the New York City investment firm Carlyle Group for boasting about his dating exploits in an e-mail to his pals--a missive that subsequently made its way to a far broader audience--is a recent example of how employers are taking a tougher stand on misuse of office e-mail.

　　An entire industry of surveillance products that cater to wary employers has grown out of this

　　backdrop of mistrust and caution. With no comprehensive federal law in place for the regulation of employee surveillance, almost all on-the-job activities are fair game. Voice mail and e-mail are routinely scrutinized by nearly half of all major U. S. companies, as are individual computer files. Soilware such as SpectorSoWs Spector can monitor and record every keystroke, log visited websites and even take snapshots of an employee's screen every 30 seconds. Companies are also turning to filters for their computer networks to block out inappropriate material. More than 15% of the U.S. firms surveyed in the AMA study said that they routinely videotaped employee activities in the year 2000. And a number of smaller repair-service companies are considering installing global-positioning-satellite devices in company cars to deter employees from goofing off while away from the office.

　　Some workers are fed up and have decided not to take it anymore. Barry Steinhardt of the National ACLU says that his office increasingly “gets lots of calls from workers who want to know what they can do about their employers spying on them.”

　　So what can you do to protect yourself ? One way to hide your footsteps on the Web is through an anonymizer program like Zero Knowledge's Freedom ($59.95 at www. freedom.net)。 It allows you to surf the Net undetected and to send and receive encrypted e-mails. Note though, that your company's network security system will probably snag the encrypted data, so be prepared to explain it. A better solution might simply be to educate yourself and know what they know. The Privacy Foundation (www. Privacyfoundation.org) offers a free bug-detection program. The site also has plenty of workplace-surveillance articles and links to other products that undermine the efforts of intrusive employers. Only you know whether it's smart to do this from your work PC.