'Big Brother' To Check On Workshy Employees

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Here is a news that is relieving for all the 'bosses' but little worrisome for the workshy employees --a new software would now allow the bosses to spy on lazy and troublemaking people in the offices.

Scientists have developed a new spyware-- "Big Brother" which can help in tracking sluggish people at workplaces.

The software automatically scans emails to create a personality profile for each member of staff.

Although it is designed to tackle workplace cybercrime, the system could be adapted to show whether employees are workshy, take too much sick leaves or are applying for jobs elsewhere, the Daily Mail reported here today.

The programme is the brainchild of computer experts working for the US military, and will soon be available for any company or institution to download for free.

According to a survey around one in three companies said at least a third of the damage to their business due to cybercrime was committed by insiders.

"Many of the biggest losses tend to be due to trusted insiders who steal or who disable computer systems," Gilbert Peterson of the Air Force Institute of Technology in Ohio, who developed the software, said.

The software scans through every email sent by a worker and looks for patterns of words - or absences of words - that reveal clues about their personality.

The system relies on the assumption that the riskiest employees for crime are those who are disgruntled, alienated and fed-up.

First it searches emails for "social" words such as "dinner", "drink", "fun", "tonight", "love", "weekend", "family" and "game".

If someone is not discussing their social lives with colleagues, it could be a sign that they are alienated. Being a loner doesn't mean someone is a potential thief, however.

So the system checks to see if anyone is discussing sensitive subjects with those outside work that they never discuss with colleagues.

If they do, they are flagged up as having "clandestine, sensitive interests".

People labelled as alienated and having clandestine interests could pose a risk to the company and their names are immediately forwarded to management.

The system could even be adapted to track staff having affairs or taking too much time off.

Despite so many advantages, the spyware is controversial because it brands employees as potential threats before they have done anything wrong.