Privacy on the desktop is under siege with the latest real-time software giving Australian managers the ammunition to tap staff on the shoulder and tell them their time is up.

In the latest e-surveillance surge, network administrators now have the ability to instantly monitor how much time workers are spending on the Web and where they're going, facilitating the immediate ticking off of problem cyberbludgers and elimination of Internet misuse.

The new software, WebSpy Live, triggers an alert to the administrator depending on customised profiles, size, file extension, and length of time spent browsing -- the alert arrives as a pop-up dialogue, similar to an instant message system

However, WebSpy software's local distributor Janteknology -- www.janteknology.com.au -- says that Internet monitoring software hasn't made it mainstream yet and it'll be another year and a half before it does.

"Businesses are still erring to the side of caution," Janteknology MD Glenn Miller told ZDNet Australia. -As the privacy issues involved...become better defined more companies will be more willing to take that approach."

Defending the software from privacy advocates, Miller says businesses have a clear responsibility and right to protect their assets. He does, however, assert that a balance needs to be struck against this and infringing on employee privacy, saying that businesses should have a published policy on what employees can and cannot do with the company's Internet resources and that staff should be advised that they are being monitored.

"There is such a thing as ethical monitoring versus unethical monitoring," Miller said.

However, the beta version of this super-smart monitoring software has been released at time when the debate about workplace surveillance and privacy intrusion is at its height, with new privacy laws due to come into fruition in December this year.

Australian recruitment company TMP Worldwide has waded into the workplace surveillance debate, backing widespread beliefs that employees are besieged with privacy invasion.

A recent study conducted by TMP Worldwide has found that 35 percent of respondents believe they don't get enough privacy at work, with 20 percent saying their emails are regularly monitored and 19 percent reporting that their employers use video cameras or phone-monitoring devices to keep tabs on them.

The survey found that those workers between the ages of 19 and 34 (40 percent) were least likely to feel that they get enough privacy on the job and a whopping 42 percent of mid level or junior managers feel the workplace is too transparent.

"We're in the age of open-plan offices, shared desk space and networked computers," Barry Vienet of TMP Worldwide said in a statement. -Privacy is quickly becoming a scarce commodity as employers are becoming increasingly concerned with productivity and security."

Vienet believes that the number of employers that record and review employees' telephone calls, email messages, Internet usage and computer files will continue to rise.

However, whilst monitoring tools are essentially used to ensure employee productivity and as protection against litigation from employees downloading porn, amongst other things, they will ultimately play an integral role in ensuring protection against external security attacks such as malicious worms, according to Janteknology's Miller.

-The fact that the Internet represents the biggest security risk as Information Technology security goes means we will see monitoring software evolving into a far broader security focused application," Miller said.

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