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Most Canadian firms exercise some level of control over staff Internet usage – by blocking risqué Web pages, or monitoring URLs visited or e-mail usage at work.

Such oversight can be useful to employer and employee alike.

It can boost staff productivity and prevent "illicit" use of company computers and damaging litigation that could result.

But experts note employee monitoring can function as a double-edged sword. If done improperly and with inappropriate tools it can actually do more harm than good, they say.

For instance, when checking on employee surfing habits, there's a chance someone may be wrongly accused because they accidentally clicked on an offensive pop up, or their malware-infested PC downloaded illicit material without their knowledge or consent.

Or perhaps someone else used their computer during a break.

To minimize the pitfalls of employee monitoring, and maximize its benefits, industry insiders have suggested various strategies.

One is adopting reliable monitoring tools and technologies.

For instance, enterprise iBoss – a new product from San Diego, Calif.–based Phantom Technologies LLC. is being positioned as a "responsible" staff monitoring offering that does the job without any false positives.

A Web filter application, enterprise iBoss automatically monitors and records activity on desktops or laptops flagged for inappropriate content, said Peter Martini, chief operating officer (COO) at Phantom Technologies.

For instance, if an employee attempts to access an "adult" Web site five times in two minutes, the activity will be recorded. Then the user's desktop will be recorded for three additional minutes to confirm the inappropriate activity is intentional.

The tool can be set to record activities on a PC for a specified period of time following certain prohibited actions – such as visiting an adult site, engaging in an online chat, peer-to-peer file sharing or downloading. 

A sufficiently long recording of a user's actions will indicate if the prohibited action is deliberate or unintentional, or the result of malware, Martini noted.

Administrators, he said, can remotely monitor and control up to ten desktops live, potentially reducing overhead costs.

The main benefit for employees is the tool creates a safer, more enjoyable workplace, the Phantom Technologies COO said. Employees have the assurance their Internet administrator won't falsely accuse them of inappropriate activity due to a pop-up ad.

And the iBoss application also ensures users are more cautious with content they're sending around the office. "Twenty-seven per cent of Fortune 500 companies have [faced]sexual harassment suits resulting from e-mail," Martini noted. "All employees suffer when this happens."

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