Privacy and surveillance is a topic with growing importance for working places.
Today's rapid technical development has a considerable impact on privacy. The aim of
this paper is an analysis of the relation between privacy and workplace surveillance. The
existing techniques, laws and ethical theories and practices are considered.
The workplace is an official place par excellence. With modern technique it is easy to
identify and keep under surveillance individuals at the workplace where everything from
security-cameras to programs for monitoring of computer usage may bring about nearly a
total control of the employees and their work effort.
How much privacy can we expect at our workplaces? Can electronic methods of
monitoring and surveillance be ethically justified? A critical analysis of the idea of
privacy protection versus surveillance or monitoring of employees is presented.
One central aspect of the problem is the trend toward the disappearance of boundaries
between private and professional life. Users today may work at their laptop computers at
any place. People send their business e-mails from their homes, even while travelling or
on vacations. How can a strict division be made between private and official information
in a future world pervaded with ubiquitous computers?
The important fact is that not everybody is aware of the existence of surveillance, and
even fewer people are familiar with privacy-protection methods. That is something which
demands knowledge as well as engagement. The privacy right of the working force is
grounded in the fundamental human right of privacy recognized in all major international
agreements regarding human rights such as Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights (United Nations, 1948).
The conclusion is that trust must be established globally in the use of ICT (information
and communication technology), so that both users (cultural aspect) and the technology
will be trustworthy. That is a long-term project which already has started.
2006.
ZiF-Workshop Privacy and Surveillance, University of Bielfeld, Germany, 2006