Watch out for productivity tools that track your mouse movements.

[29dogs]

I just saw this and omg.

https://www.reddit.com/r/remotework/comments/1o6egjj/my_companys_new_remote_accountability_system

Last week IT installed a new “productivity tool” that supposedly helps managers understand “work patterns.” Turns out it’s just spyware that logs our mouse and keyboard activity. If you stop moving the cursor for 3 minutes, your status turns red and your manager gets a “low activity alert.” I was reading a 20-page report and suddenly got a message asking if I was “ having technical issues. ” No, Karen, I’m just using my eyes like a normal person. People are now spinning pens on their mousepads or setting their pets on the desk so the tracker doesn’t flag them. One guy even taped his mouse to a Roomba. I swear we’re turning into a parody of ourselves. Remote work was supposed to be about trust and flexibility, not digital babysitting.

 

[Zwielicht]

@Michaeldoods posted a thread about using mouse jugglers for this kind of corporate tracking. Here’s a link to the thread for anyone who’s interested: https://officeoutlaw.com/threads/two-words-mouse-jiggler.58/

 

[Preying Mantis]

These have been around for ages nothing new but good to let others know about it I guess