Privacy and security

Posted by on 14 October 2011 17:30 Leave a comment (3) Go to comments

Tension between privacy and security is made ever starker by today’s advancing technology and eroding morals. An article by Jonathan Segal describes the legal grounds employers must take to protect themselves from employee backlash when security needs overpower privacy concerns. His solution: ensure that your employees have no expectation of privacy. That frees you to invade it while leaving them no legal grounds to complain about the violation. While Segal’s advice is legally sound, it ignores the more important human elements of the problem: lowering employee expectations does not make them happier or more productive or more ethical but rather less so. Only by raising morale and improving the sense of community and ownership do employers have a chance at positively influencing the human factors that necessitate the security measures in the first place.

CS 404
  • Almonihah

    Privacy and security have always been at odds with one another, because security ultimately requires someone to be in control. The trick is to buy just as much security as you need with as little of your freedom and privacy as you can.

  • Richard

    “lowering employee expectations does not make them happier or more productive or more ethical but rather less so” — Really? If employees know that you have the legal right to search their belongings or computer, they are going to be less ethical? 

    I understand that employees might be happier in an environment where they aren’t in fear of their belongings being searched at any given moment, but that isn’t the environment Segal was advocating. He was just recommending that you don’t give your employees any reason to believe that you (as the employer) can’t search their stuff. Yeah a few people might be annoyed, but if they’ve got nothing to hide, then why should they fear? If they do have something to hide, then don’t you want the legal right to investigate?

  • http://globalconstant.scnay.com/ Steve Nay

    I agree that people who have nothing to hide won’t be afraid of a search, and that the employer ought to know about it when someone is hiding something. But fostering a climate of mistrust degrades productivity and happiness, and it leads people to protect themselves before seeking the best interests of the company. A climate of trust creates different expectations—people give higher priority to the welfare of their team and fellow workers than they otherwise would, resting assured that they are safe and respected.

    In a creative industry like software engineering, anything you do to muck with the emotions of your employees will hurt their productivity. Seeding mistrust weakens a team emotionally. Building a team that trusts each other is a much better way to get both security and emotional well-being.