Keystroke logging a no-no in Alberta

[Tami]

Keystroke logging a no-no in Alberta

Canadian Press

Lacombe, Alta. — A Privacy Commissioner's ruling against an Alberta library that electronically monitored an employee's computer use means employers have lost one objective way of measuring workers' performance, says the library's director.

Patricia Silver, director of the Parkland Regional Library, ordered the installation of keystroke logging software on the computer of an employee whose productivity was questioned.

When the employee discovered that he had been monitored, he lodged a complaint with Alberta's information and privacy commissioner.

In a decision released last week, Commissioner Frank Work ruled that the library collected personal information about the employee in contravention of the Freedom of Information and Protection Privacy Act.

The employee, who was not named, worked as a computer technician for six months in 2004. Ms. Silver said it was a job where productivity was hard to measure.

“We thought that using an objective check through the computer would be the most fair and objective way to do that,” she said Wednesday.

“If you have something like a cataloguing clerk, if they only catalogue one book a day, you notice. If they catalogue 100, you notice. With that kind of job, it's easy to say either ‘You're doing great work' or ‘You need to be more productive' or whatever. But that's not true of all the areas of our operation.”

Ms. Silver disputed Mr. Work's finding that the library collected personal information on the employee, saying managers never looked at any of the computer files that were logged. She said she believed the keystroke logging would be allowed under a clause in the act that permits collection of information that is necessary for an operating program or activity of a public body.

“Mr. Work felt that it was too intrusive on the employee, and certainly we accept his interpretation and would abide by it in the future,” she said.

“But beyond our case, it raises the question of how do you look at people's productivity and the quality of their work in certain occupations where it's hard to tell, given the technology nowadays?

“We are responsible for taxpayers' money in our organization and we do like to think we give good value in terms of productivity of our staff. So I think that remains a question.”

Mr. Work said the library could have used “less intrusive means” to get the information needed to manage the employee.”

He noted that other library information technology employees weren't similarly monitored.

“This lack of even-handedness further undermines the public body's explanation for the collection,” Mr. Work said.

He dismissed an argument from the employee that the collected information had not been adequately protected.

Mr. Work said he didn't have the jurisdiction to rule on whether or not the employee was dismissed as a result of his complaint. Ms. Silver confirmed the employee no longer works at the library but said his departure had nothing to do with the privacy complaint.

[url=\"http://www.globetechnology.com\"]source: Globe Technology[/url]