Ask HN: How closely does big tech monitor employee laptops? - dizzydiz
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codingdave
I can't speak for what "big tech" does, but I can say that when I worked in
enterprise IT, we took the stance that nobody should have any expectation of
any privacy on their laptops... but then rarely actually tracked any thing. On
the rare occasions that we did track, it was due to an investigation of some
sort, and there was an audit trail of who were were monitoring and why. It was
never about productivity - that is between you and your boss.

The exception to this was web filtering - if you tried to access a site that
was not allowed, someone got an email. That someone was pretty reasonable...
they understood the occasional hit on a flagged site because you followed a
link. They were more concerned about patterns of poor choices.

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wallflower
In the case of Google, retroactively by using detailed forensic logs.

> Soon afterward, forensic engineers, led by the Google executive Gary Brown,
> began combing Project Chauffeur’s databases in search of material that could
> be used to block Uber’s acquisition of Ottomotto. They eventually discovered
> a small lead. According to Google, a month before Levandowski resigned, he
> had plugged his work-issued laptop into a Google server and downloaded about
> fourteen thousand files, including hardware schematics. He transferred the
> files to an external drive and then wiped his laptop clean.

[https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/10/22/did-uber-
steal...](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/10/22/did-uber-steal-
googles-intellectual-property)

------
elijahwright
Let’s talk about occupational hazards faced by people doing forensic
investigations...

------
gok
Monitor in what sense?

~~~
dizzydiz
Track what is being done, productivity etc in a proactive sense, rather than
reactively, as part of an investigation, for example.

