I suspect Boeing will be in damage control mode on this Seattle Post-Intelligencer article:
One such team, dubbed “enterprise” investigators, has permission to read the private e-mails of employees, follow them and collect video footage or photos of them. Investigators can also secretly watch employee computer screens in real time and reproduce every keystroke a worker makes, the Seattle P-I has learned.
I have read much about how Gen Y craves transparency in all things. I can’t imagine the impact an article like this could have on their recruiting efforts. Whether the story is true or not, the impact will still be felt.
Recently, a Boeing investigator told a Puget Sound-area employee that he was followed off company property to a lunch spot, that investigators had footage of him “coming and going” and that investigators had accessed his personal Gmail account.
The primary reason for the 2007 investigation, the employee said, was Boeing’s suspicion that he had spoken with a member of the media. The employee learned the details of the investigation during a three-hour meeting, in which investigators laid out some of their findings. He has since been fired.
Boeing was a customer of mine in a previous position and I have been out to Everett, WA when it was the official headquarters for the company. Obviously, Boeing has highly-classified government projects, but this approach to security appears to be over-the-top.
Unfortunately, the privacy laws in this area are somewhat vague according to the article:
So when does privacy begin? When an employee steps across the threshold into his or her own home, experts say.
“The only thing your boss can’t do is listen to personal telephone calls; that’s covered by wiretapping laws,” said Lewis Maltby, president of the National Workrights Institute in Princeton, N.J.
…
However, “it’s a tricky area because there aren’t a lot of legal protections in Washington and in most states where we have employment-at-will. There are some privacy rights of employees, but they are limited relative to the employer.”
The reporter references the exact topic that went through my mind when I saw the headline – the HP scandal from last year. I believe as we continue into this Information Age, more of these types of stories are going to appear.