IP: Rebels in Black Robes Recoil at Surveillance of Computers

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> From: "the terminal of Geoff Goodfellow" <geoff () iconia com>
> To: "Dave E-mail Pamphleteer Farber" <farber () cis upenn edu>
>
> Rebels in Black Robes Recoil at Surveillance of Computers
>
> By NEIL A. LEWIS
> The New York Times
>
> ASHINGTON, Aug. 7 — A group of federal employees who believed that the
> monitoring of their office computers was a major violation of their privacy
> recently staged an insurrection, disabling the software used to check on
> them and suggesting that the monitoring was illegal and unethical.
>
> This was not just a random bunch of bureaucrats but a group of federal
> judges who are still engaged in a dispute with the office in Washington that
> administers the judicial branch and that had installed the software to
> detect downloading of music, streaming video and pornography.
>
> It is a conflict that reflects the anxiety of workers at all levels at a
> time when technology allows any employer to examine each keystroke made on
> an office computer. In this case, the concern over the loss of privacy comes
> from the very individuals, federal judges, who will shape the rules of the
> new information era.
>
> --SNIP--
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/08/national/08COUR.html
>
> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
> geoff.goodfellow () iconia com, Prague CZ * tel/mobil +420 (0)603 706 558
> "success is getting what you want & happiness is wanting what you get"
> http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/01/biztech/articles/17drop.html



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