Big Sur on Fox13 News Investigates Feature

Hi Everyone,

Big Sur was featured on a Fox 13 Spot last night on the 5:00 News. Below is a link to the article, and Video.

http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/dpp/news/investigates/111-facebook-monitoring-at-work

Companies monitor employees on Facebook

Published : Monday, 11 Jan 2010, 6:23 PM EST

TAMPA - Can't wait to message your friends? Maybe you should. The boss could be watching.

Companies these days are trying to squeeze out more productivity, and one way to do that is to limit the time employees are able to spend on social web sites.

“You're allowed to visit Facebook for 10 minutes out of the day. After 10 minutes, we're going to cut your time out,” said Charles Love, technical services manager of Big Sur Technologies in Tampa, speaking about one of the policies set by his clients.

Employers pay Big Sur Technologies to keep an eye on what employees are looking at online.

Charles Love is even able to set up the boss to track an employee’s internet surfing from an office on a completely different floor.

“Management can see the mouse moving, and they can see all the key strokes,” said Love.

“It's entirely legal,” said law professor Tim Kaye of Stetson University. “Whatever goes on during normal work hours with the employer’s equipment is a matter for the employer to control.”

Professor Kaye says this standard generally applies even when employees are using these sites to get their work done.

A recent survey shows there may be good reason for companies to worry about social networking sites. Of employees who have a Facebook page, 77 percent said they’re on it during work hours, but only 13 percent of that same group said they had a business reason to do so.

“Some companies encourage their employees to go on Twitter or Facebook to publicize the company. So while you're there, it rather depends on what you expect the employee to be doing,” Kaye said.

Kaye offered this advice for employees:

“I suspect the best defense for an employee is to be a productive employee. If you’re getting the job done, and everyone get on with me, then there will be less reason to start investigating you,” he said.