https://www.wired.com/story/creepy-rise-bossware/
17 replies (most recent on top)
They also removed the fast boot option since no one rebooted their machine. I'm aware IT has seen machines up for 10 plus days since the employee refuses to reboot causing most of the slowness issues.
@dd1+1vntWeWW Is clueless. No company does pc replacements every other year. If your pc is taking 10 minutes to boot you need to ask IT to troubleshoot or reinstall windows. A fresh install removes all that slowing down over time.
Laptops always get slow the longer you have them. 3- 4 yers for a refresh is not frequent enough. In less than a year my pc boot and shutdown time went from 5 seconds to 5 minutes, now it’s over 10.
Was way worse when the logger software was installed on it in November (it was a global install) then a few days later back to normal slowness.
I also find it funny they had webcam logger since most people either put a post it (electrical tape works better) over their cameras or use the laptops built in mechanical slider which disables it in windows. Or both for extra privacy.
@dcb+1vntWeWW Is spouting a ton of BS. For example , IT replaces all PCs every 4 years. If someone has a pc for 7 years it’s because the user refused to show up for their appointments repeatedly.
Haha! They used this tactic way back when they discovered the whistleblower was someone who had left the company but still maintained contact with former colleagues. Nationally, wealth management finally received new laptops after seven years and many complaints that the laptops were too slow to run the planning software and Oracle/SAP platforms required of our jobs. Then the NYT articles blew up and it became clear that Gretchen Morgenson had spoken to over a dozen WMA’s. Then, rather suddenly, the laptops in only one major city had to be replaced AGAIN. This strangely urgent replacement and re-imaging caused one advisor to examine the changes to find that key stroke tracking, microphone and camera functions had been altered….and the whistleblower laughed.
The app absolutely has the capability to turn on your mic or any audio peripheral and record what it hears.
“ Teramind can record audio on the computer. It can capture all input and output devices such as microphones, speakers, line input, line output etc.”
https://kb.teramind.co/en/articles/8790943-does-teramind-support-audio-recordings-can-i-record-microphones-speakers-phone-calls-softphones
Guess those surveys aren’t anonymous after all 🤪
@3kmf+1vntWeWW That’s crazy. This is why nobody trusts the “no retaliation” policy at any company.
I know they used this type of software to try and determine the whistleblowers. That's all I can say.
The app doesn't turn on your camera or mic. It's recording what's on your laptop... but if you like to open up a Zoom room without inviting anyone and then walk around in the buff in front of your camera, I guess then you're gonna give the folks in Cyber a show.
Like the first poster said all companies do this.
My only issue with most tracking software (keyloggers, screen prints and recorders) is it slows the computer down so much people can’t single task let alone multitask. The one recently made it next to impossible for folks to do their day to day work.
SnagIt delays, mouse skipping, waiting for right/left mouse clicks, longer times to open an app, long boot/shut down. times,
The EC (Post ID: @1gbg+1vntWeWW) has entered the chat!
Every company uses monitoring software to some extent. I do question the legality of companies enabling audio monitoring when a worker is at their home without their knowledge. How is that different than tapping a landline? It would be MORE invasive.
No one said they weren’t going to use it, that’s a silly strawman argument. What people are saying is being paranoid that they are going use this to in someway fire everyone is inaccurate. They don’t need this software to do that. For one, they want to make sure people are working from home, that is not as easy to do right now. They also need real data on the time waste of using all the systems we have. That by far is the most useful part of this software. We can have metrics on how often people are switching systems, how long it takes to do something on a system etc. That data is an absolute nightmare to get right now, it’s manual and very error prone.
I have said this before. If you’re playing fake it till you make it especially at home, yes you should be worried. If your boss is incompetent and can’t manage out of a paper bag, they probably will use this to micromanage you more. If you are doing your job and hitting your metrics, I wouldn’t be worried about this, it’s more specific data on what you are doing but it’s not something that is needed to fire you.
Let me know when someone is getting in trouble for taking a break for 17 minutes instead of 15. Because they used the internet to google something or whatever else that is not a problem now that is turned into a problem after this.
What this really shows is the paranoia and lack of trust in the EC, however for most people this really just an upgrade of tracking that we have been doing for years. For RR, we already track all convos, email, chat, phone (depending on what you do) and where they go on their computer and trust me it that flags all sorts of absurdity that it doesn’t need to.
I hate this place more than most but other than my computer being agonizingly slow, I don’t particularly care if TIAA is “spying” on me. It’s not surprising, tbh. Yes, it’s micromanaging but it’s TIAA’s right, whether I like it or not.
That said, I’m glad it’s getting exposure so associates can finally start to see that this company doesn’t give a damn about them. Leadership won’t address/will ignore the issue as always and we’ll find something else to bi--h about until we’re all laid off or find new jobs.
This is micromanagement software pure and simple. What’s actually naive is assuming they wouldn’t use it for that, especially knowing this EC.
Don’t be naive. Every company uses tracking software and records your phone calls.
The question is if and when they actually look at what you do/say and take action based on that especially if your performance goes down.