[Direckshun]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

I work for a Fortune 500 company. Everybody knows they're being monitored. We're trained every day to be careful about what we e-mail, facebook about, etc... We all know that there is somebody always watching and that every word I e-mail about, talk about, etc... becomes discoverable. If someone accidentally or purposefully sends an e-mail with sensitive information, they are drilled to the nth degree, because they are that careful. And it should be that way. I don't care that I'm being monitored, but never do I feel like my privacy is being invaded. And they're not going to bother me about something petty. Look, we all know that when we're on company territory, I can't just write anything on my computer. I can't just steal stuff on company property knowing there are cameras around.

I can assure you that the environment painted in this picture is different from anything I've seen. And again, it's not about the aggressive accountability. I don't care about the gum wrapper example--I think that's a great thing. I think what is unusual in this instance is the extent of privacy monitoring and the culture that is built around enormous distrust of each other. Now, Apple is one culture where there is a lot more lockdown on information sharing, but to my knowledge, Apple doesn't come close to the kind of environment fostered in the story above. Because this isn't just about business. This isn't just about protecting secrets. This is about an abuse of power to micro-manage to every last detail, even stuff that doesn't really affect the business.

So do Fortune 500 companies do this? Probably. The good ones? Not to my knowledge.

Fair points all around.