What would you do if your boss tracks your mails, keylogs your computer?  

Okay, it is good that your boss do not do that.
But for discussion sake, what if your boss does it?
He sniffs your mail. Tracks your web use. And also key logs your computer. Restricting access to the server that you are working on. And expect ridiculous datelines.

What would you do?

I will use this mail less,and don't send personal mail by it,i just only send mail about work,in this way,i don't care whether he sniff my mail,boss is just boss,he give me salary,i lived depend on it,so i have to bear it,please don't laugh at me...

No one is going to laugh at you.
There is no reason to.

That is your opinion. You are entitled to it.
At least I know now that you find it acceptable that your boss can reply to your emails on your behalf.
As long as it is related to work rite?

Well, I would think that using the computer during lunch for personal stuff like paying of bills is normal.
Not everyone of us has the luxury to go shopping all the time.
And with his boss always keeping check on his lunch time, it is hard to even go out.
Tight deadlines means late work days and short weekends.

And getting a gift for anniversary is something new couples treasure a lot.
So I do not see anything wrong with buying something of the web during lunch time. In fact, my friend worked really hard to try and meet the demands of this boss.
Cos the commute to work from his home is always jammed, he goes to work at 6.30 just tor each the office at 730 am, sometimes 700 just to avoid warning letters. Cos previously, he got warning letters for coming in late 15 minutes. But that was due to a an accident along the route to work, and the traffic was jammed up for that stretch for close to an hour before the bus could inch out of that area to make its way to the destination!

You are right in that a boss can monitor the traffic from the computer. But to monitor to the point of knowing what is written when you are surfing the web?!?
I personally think that is a infringement of privacy.
I mean when you are demanding, there should be some leeway at certain portion of the way. No?

No wonder he keep saying the turnover rate for that team is ridiculous!

well i guess i'm used to it at work so i find that it's alright. not just where i'm working, some of my friends at different companies are treated this way too. we know for a fact that our emails are read on a regular basis. that's why i only use my office email for official purpose. our IT department also monitors our internet usage, maybe to the point of what we entered on any given websites.

if i have to use internet for personal purpose, i usually log onto the internet with my mobile phone. i'd rather pay a little extra than to have people know my passwords and account numbers.

maybe your friend should seriously consider reflecting this to his boss's boss. if not, another job looks like a good option too. cheers ;p

Well, he has since left the job.
One thing let to another and he could not take it anymore.
So he uprooted and left.

Talk about being used as a puppet in the office.
He managed to clean up the loose ends left by the previous fella. And then there is no more project at hand that is urgent.
He was given a lousy review and let go just one day before his confirmation!
Too much!

Went to the Man power ministry, there is no recourse for him!
Bunch of good the ministry is! Bah.... Humbug!

sigh, this is really bad. there are bosses that couldn't stand having a good subordinate. they know they can't go far in their career so they watch out for people who are capable. if they deem a subordinate more capable, they'd do all sorts of things to make their life miserable. they'll scrutinise every little thing to find a chance to get rid of the subordinate. philosophically, losing a job like this is a blessing in disguise. think of all the misery this boss will put your friend through. i believe he will be arrowed by this boss for everything that went wrong. however, i can empathise with the anger he feel after putting in so much efforts into making things right.

If you look at the whole picture, it is a blessing in disguise.
But if you think about the opportunity my friend lost when he made the jump.
Not to mention that he was jobless for the next few months!
What ever savings he had depleted before he found his current job.

And the worst part of it is, the labor law condones this kinda action!
There is to recourse for my friend at all! Which is what makes this whole situation so frustrating!

Here we are, working the ground. There the government is telling us to bite the bullet and takes cuts here and there.
Then the law does not protect us!

it's really bad luck to be caught in such situations. however, the law doesn't really protect the general public. looking back at the history of why law was enacted and you'll understand. it was to protect the haves against the have-nots. look at the different offences and you'll come to realise that most are about taking something away from a person. be it money, property, health or reputation, it's about protecting people who have things. guess we'll just have to work harder to get ourselves into the class of haves instead.

Hmm... does going to the Human Resource help?
It is your word against your boss.
In the event the Human resource do step in, your relationship with your boss will definitely be strained. And working together is going to be even more painful.

Sigh... that is the scary part. He is not only hinting to you that he can see your mail. He can see everything you type as well.
Making it so restrictive to work in such an environment!
Going for a one hour lunch, he is expected to be back in the office within 45 mins.
If you leave on the dot come knock off time, you will be frowned upon.
Giving datelines like, I want it by 10 tomorrow morning, but only informing half an hour before the day ends.
But if you work late, you are expected to complete your job by 8 as he will disconnect all connections to the server at 8pm. You cannot bring your work home due to the nature of the work.

Sheez~~~!

Seems he's a pain in the a$$. Makes me think that he doesn't work at all because he has all the glory of time to monitor each and every staff and snoop on their activities. Is he a mad scientist inventing a cyborg?

If only it was that simple.
According to my friend, he is out to make things difficult for the whole team.
He and the Project lead are in cahoots!
I find the way he manages the team pretty weird.
I sure hope my friend is giving me an accurate picture of the situation in his office.

One thing for sure, after the recent episode, I am also condemning this company!

I too agree that if you want to control internet usage, blocking sites or restricting access is the way to go. But to key log to the point where you can see the passwords and ID, I personally feel that is too much as well.

But being a junior in the company, what would you recommend my friend to do?

Well since your still starting on your career well I think the best thing you could do is gather you strength in numbers. Try to ask their opinion about how this manager is trying to do to really destroy your privacy then maybe if you have a person much more higher than your manager perhaps you could try to convince them as a group that what this person is doing is just plainly wrong. That is if your manager is not well entrenched in his position like the son of the owner or family relatives of the owner maybe you could do that. But that is a risk you have to take if you want to correct this wrongdoing.

ha ha ha ha ha... if only it were that simple.
Being low on the hierarchy has a lot of disadvantages.
And the worst part of it, his boss will definitely take his word over a newbie like my friend.

Anyways, I am glad he got out of that job.
He is looking at better prospects now!

Yes, according to ahgongfren, the mail was correspondences between the QA and himself with regards to the project. And the address is between him and the QA. That was why he was so surprise to see the donkey reply to the QA queries that was directed to him (ahgongfren).

Well, ahgongfren need not worry about that job anymore.
The donkey pulled a stunt that really took the cake!
ahgongfren was hired to finish up a project that was left hanging by the previous fella.
That fella could not take the antics of the donkey and left. Just like that. Leaving the project hanging, and a big mess of the stuff he was suppose to do.
So ahgongfren was hired to replace him in the hope that he can finish the project on the fella's behalf.

And ahgongfren was so busy with this new job that he hardly have time to go for coffee with ahgong on the regular basis that he used to.
Just recently, after completing the project, one day before his probation is up, he was given a bad review and told to go!

Sigh... this kind of donkey boss actually exists in the world. I thought this kind of donkey hole only exist in the movies on the TV series.
I sure hope this donkey hole will meet his match and be beaten in his own game!
Too much!

Geez, how sad for ahgongfren... :(

Exactly!
The great injustice that was put upon him!
I feel for him as well.
After listening to his story, it makes me afraid to change job liow.

Yeah... it does get a little creepy doesn't it?
I mean, I understand that a company has the right to track the internet traffic and the emails that goes in and out of the company.

But these records are usually not opened to be viewed unless an investigation into suspected fraud or foul play is opened.
To have a boss who read and listens to all your network traffic is really scary!
And down right invasive IMHO. In fact, I find it totally unethical!

ha ha ha ha ha... I think you got a little mixed up there.
The scenario is this. My friend send an email to a colleague of his to make some inquiries with regards to the project.
A few mails was exchanged between him and the colleague. The boss was not in the address list during the exchange.
Then suddenly the boss replied to one of the emails that was suppose to be between the colleague and my friend. Using his own email address. That is how my friend know that it was the boss that replied to the email.

And it was a good thing that he is talking and discussion about work. Can you imagine if they were gossiping instead?

Then comes the big slap in the face about the CC.
I mean, I know that every company tracks the site that an employee goes to during office hours. But to the point of keylogging the computer he is working on?
That I find is too much!
Cos usually when you sniff the network, if the site is encrypted, you usually do not get to see the information being sent. You only know that some information is being sent. Unless you tell me it is possible for a person to have ALL the encryption key available in the market, it is near impossible to see encrypted information so easily.

I too was telling my friend that there are always some form of monitoring on the activity of the computer when it is being used in the company.
And I do agree that using the computer, you agree to that monitoring activity.

But there are still some limits on what kind of monitoring there should be right?
I mean, to the point where you can get credit card numbers and passwords from the sites he surf on the web?

And even if he were to be able to monitor up to that level of clarity in the network traffic, he has the right to go around telling people the numbers?
I am sure there is some level of privacy to be accorded to the employee when he is working in a company right?

I think the boss is trying to teach your friend a lesson here and maybe the rest of the employees as well. You may not be getting the whole picture from him. Maybe he is abusing the computer much more than he lets on. I am not saying this is the best way to handle things but lets face it. As long as your friend uses the company computer for his own private use he can expect this kind of action. My question is, if he knows this is going on why does he continue to use the computer and accept this kind of abuse?? I asume also your friend knows he could actually be fired for such actions.

Ah... this is what you did not read properly.
That was the only one time he used the net for his own purpose.
Most of the time, he is kept so busy, he rarely had the time to use the net.

That one time he used it, was because his anniversary with his girlfriend was coming up, and he could not find the time to do the shopping physically. So he made the inquiries during lunch and made the purchase online.

I know my friend. When he gets into a job, he will be so immersed in it, he will not stop till the job is done!
So knowing him, he would not be going to the internet for anything else other than work during the duration of the project!
I know, cos I used to work with him on projects during our final year.

Sorry my toungue got in the way of my eye tooth and I could not see what I was saying. LOL I think you said he has found another job. Probably the best thing for him. Unfortunately the boss will continue his evil until someone throws him out the window.

That is the very problem. When my friend was hired, no such notice was made. And when he used the computer for his purchase during lunch time. Mind you, it is lunch time. And lunch time is PERSONAL time. NOT COMPANY time.
And he did not surf the web for anything other than to find information about work during COMPANY time.

SO there is no reason for the company to object. Moreover, he is meeting his deadlines and completing his project milestone according to the time scheduled in the project dateline.
So there is no reason to persecute him like that.

Also, if there must be a clear distinction between company time and personal time, then this boss is one heck of a donkey hole!
Cos my friend also told me he has a knack for eating into your half day leave when you apply for one.

For example, if you took a second half of the day off due to some personal commitment, you would expect to leave for your half day off by latest, after lunch right?
Given that a typical work day starts from 8, break at 12 for 45 mins for lunch, and ends at 6. This boss will literally come up with some testing or job at the last minute and will hold you back till about 3pm or 4pm before letting you go for your half a day leave!
What justice is that? He can eat into the personal time. But the employee cannot eat into the company time?
How about overtime due to some tight deadline that is promised by the boss to the customer? Datelines that are impossible to meet if you do not work overtime?
Are those considered personal time? or Company time?

Like you said, it is normal for a company to monitor the activity of the computers that employees use in the office.
And those information collected should be regarded with high level of secrecy. No?
If it is easily and loosely available for any boss to read it, then it prone to abuse.

I guess a kind of balance must be reached when it comes to viewing this kind of information collected from the network through monitoring activities.
To have a boss who reads and scrutinizes it and then flashed around at the boss fancy is kinda unethical. Is it not?

Again I must stress, unless there is an investigation into a breech of contract or company policies, such activity should not be read by the boss and worn in the sleeve like some form of leverage on the employee. No?

I agree with you that just anyone should not have access to your information. I guess "boss" would be based on the size of the company. Sometimes the boss is also the CEO/owner.
I have worked for very large companies (HP,Home Savings, etc) and they will generally have a data security department. One of their duties is to monitor these activities and then make reports to the appropriate management. One example of this was a time that I got into serious trouble for forwarding a joke email to one "friend" in another department. She then forwarded it to someone but inadvertently sent it to her boss' entire mailing list which was global and it clogged the whole email system. Of course she claimed that she never did that and pointed the finger back at me (I had no access to that list) and the result was very ugly.
I understand the need for security monitoring, but you are right about how the information should be used and shared. The boss you described was highly unethical.

Well, in the context of this discussion, boss was referring to the head of the department.
As the department is small, it consist of only the team and the team lead. Which is also the department head.
That is why he is referred to as the boss.