A camera right over my fucking desk!

When I came in this morning, a coworker pointed out a piece of black tape on one of the acoustical ceiling panels, and told me the company is going to install a camera there. I don’t know what it’s for or exactly what its view will be, but the tape is right over my right shoulder.

The trend over the past few years has been for people to meekly accept these two principles:

  1. That you give up your basic rights when you go to work;

  2. That it’s appropriate to try and prevent theft by treating everybody like a criminal.

I can’t and won’t accept those principles. I’ve done some preliminary online research on this subject, but haven’t found anything current.

Does anybody here know if anybody has successfully fought this sort of thing? I’m inclined to just quit rather than put up with this, but without my job, I don’t have the coverage for the medical treatment I’m currently on, which might save my life. I don’t know what to do except lobby my Congressmen to introduce a bill outlawing this practice (except in certain cases, which don’t include ordinary office workers).

Sorry for the lack of cursing; not really feeling well today. I can’t even work up a good rage; I’ve just got a sick feeling. If anybody has any experience with this situation, I’d appreciate anything you can tell me.

(I work in Atlanta, Georgia.)

Have a poster made up that shows a guy in a bushy moustache, with the slogan:

Paste it up on the wall and make sure that the camera will be able to see it.

[sub] that was the tripartate slogan of the Party in *1984,*in case you were wondering[/sub]

Thanks. Currently I’m trying to eliminate orgasms, because they lead to selfthought…

Blessedwolf, ROFL!

That is a great idea! I would do that in a heartbeat.

Pull down the black tape and put it up somewhere where it won’t bother you.

[obnoxious]
You know, if you don’t have anything to hide you shouldn’t have any problem with this. Affraid they’ll find out what a slacker you are? That you steal paperclips and browse the web on the company dime?
[/obnoxious]

Just kidding there. I get wierded out just by knowing that the IT people could be monitoring everything that goes on on my computer. Can I ask what kind of work you do? Why would your place of employment justify this sort of thing? I don’t think I could work in an environment where I was being watched at every moment.

>> That you give up your basic rights when you go to work

No you don’t. You have the right to quit.

Not to cast aspersions on your coworker, but how certain are you the information is accurate? Could you be stressing over an a/c duct or PA speaker?

DOUBLEPLUSGOOD!

I do word-processing and produce presentations for a giant insurance underwriter.

Sailor, saying that workers can always quit has been used historically to excuse any abuses an employer cared to impose or allow.

Good question; I also have this information from my supervisor, but no more details; I’ve been assuming my department head will be sending out an email.

Man, I wish it were an A/C duct. This office was intended to be a storage room, and gets pretty stuffy sometimes.

We’ve also just gotten instructions to start putting every piece of paper we discard into a special locked container, from which it will periodically be taken and shredded. Perhaps there’s a connection. I understand the shredding, but are they planning to hire people to stare at all the employees, all day long, over monitors, to make sure they don’t put a piece of paper in the wrong container?

You’ve got to draw the line somewhere. If you live in, say, Washington D.C., you might be monitored every minute you’re not in your home; they’re putting police cameras all over the city. (I’m sure there’s a thread about that somewhere.)

Ohmigod! You’re getting memory holes too? ::shudder:: This is gettin more and more Orwellian by the second.

Any chance you can get a coworker to switch desks with you?

bella

Video tape. [Captain Queeg]And geometric logic.[/Captain Queeg]

Well, from my company emails it appears that the shredding is supposedly to make sure we’re in compliance with a new law regarding the disposal of client documents in the underwriting business, and coincidentally because an organization called SHAC has supposedly been going through the trash of our office in San Antonio. (SHAC is an animal-rights group with a beef (ha! ha!) against one of our clients.)

Maybe I’ll put up a sign saying “Anything not forbidden is compulsory.”

Actually, I hope it’ll not come to pass; sometimes things are announced here and never enacted.

Let me get this straight; you have your own office, and they are installing a camera? Time to scream bloody murder!

Be very careful. Any wrong moves and you could end up an unperson, locked away in the ministry of love.

That appears to be your answer. I bet SHAC has offered some non-specific threats to the insurance company since they insure someone they hate, and these security precautions are in response. Some insurance company has been targerted before (there was a pit rant on it by Micheal Ellis IIRC, let me search…The page cannot be displayed!! WTF??). So the only real way to combat this is to eat lots of meat.

No, I work in a corner cubicle of a six-cubicle office, not that that should make any difference.

I’m really wondering if anybody has successfully fought this sort of thing legally.

Every day there’s something new just to piss me off…

Pretty good sig line. But I wouldn’t dream of stealing it from you.

Maybe you could get one of those umbrella hats to wear at your desk. That should pretty effectively hide your hands on your keyboard from an overhead view.