The Eye behind the computer

Imagine that every keystroke you make, every website you visit, every email you send, and every call you make is being monitored by your employer. Imagine that your productivity, performance, and behaviour are being tracked and analysed by a software that can alert your boss if you do something wrong. Imagine that you have no privacy, no autonomy, and no trust at work.

This is not a dystopian scenario. This is the reality for some employees in modern companies that use software to spy on their workers. These software tools claim to improve efficiency, security, and compliance, but they also raise serious ethical and legal questions. What are the benefits and risks of employee surveillance? How does it affect the psychological well-being and motivation of workers? And what are the rights and responsibilities of employers and employees in this digital age?

The following fictional story is based on actual facts.

Jessica hated her job. She hated the endless hours of staring at her laptop screen, typing meaningless reports and emails for a company that didn't care about her. She hated the constant pressure of meeting deadlines and quotas, and the fear of losing her income if she failed. But most of all, she hated the monitoring software that her employer had forced her to install on her laptop.

The software was supposed to track her productivity and performance, but it felt more like a surveillance tool. Every 10 minutes, it would snap a shot of her screen and send it to a remote server, where it would be analysed and rated. A figure loomed large over her workday: her activity score, a percentage calculated by the arbitrary measure of how much she typed and moved her mouse. If her score dropped below a certain threshold, she would receive a warning email from her manager, threatening to cut her pay or fire her.

Jessica felt like she was trapped in a nightmare. She couldn't take a break, or check her phone, or browse the web, or do anything that wasn't related to her work. She had to keep typing and clicking, even if she had nothing to say or do. She had to pretend to be busy and engaged, even if she was bored and exhausted. She had no privacy, no freedom, no dignity.

She tried to cope with the stress by drinking coffee and energy drinks, but they only made her jittery and anxious. She tried to distract herself by listening to music or podcasts, but they only made her lose focus and make mistakes. She tried to talk to her co-workers online, but they only made her feel more isolated and lonely.

She felt like she was losing her mind.

One day, as she was working on a spreadsheet, she noticed something strange on her screen. It was a small red dot in the corner, blinking rapidly. She moved her cursor over it, but nothing happened. She clicked on it, but nothing happened. She tried to close the spreadsheet, but nothing happened.

She realised that the dot was not part of the spreadsheet. It was part of the monitoring software.

She opened the software's settings and saw that there was a new option: "Enable webcam". It was checked by default. She tried to uncheck it, but nothing happened.

She felt a surge of panic.

She looked at the top of her laptop and saw that there was a tiny camera embedded in it. It was staring at her face, capturing every expression and emotion. She wondered how long it had been there, and how long it had been recording her.

She wondered who was watching her.

She opened her email and saw that there was a new message from her manager. It had no subject line and no text. It only had an attachment: a screenshot of her screen.

She opened the attachment and saw that it was not just a screenshot of her screen. It was a screenshot of her screen with a picture-in-picture of her face in the corner.

She saw herself looking at the screenshot.

She screamed.