The term "spyware" refers to software whose sole purpose is to surreptitiously gather and transmit information about a user. A firewall log is a neutral record of general internet activity. Any reasonably informed adult who uses the internet should understand their actions may be logged, in the same way they understand a policeman might be watching them when they drive their car down a road. Certain parts of our daily activities are observed; that's a facet of urban life. What matters is whether the prior intent of the observation is hostile.
Keith Purtell, Web/Network Administrator VantageMed Operations (Kansas City) Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This email message, including any attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message. > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Darrell L. > Sent: Thursday, February 27, 2003 8:33 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: RE: Re[2]: DSN:Re: Re[2]: [Declude.JunkMail] A Question of > Ethics > > > I suppose you can say that any monitoring tool or piece of software > could be spyware. I know in several instances where > employee's were let > go or suspended due to inappropriate activity were based solely on the > analysis of firewall logs that record all internet activity. In our > Computer Security Policy we do not specifically say that the > firewall is > logging everyone's internet surfing activities. However in > the computer > security document it is spelled out that they are using company > equipment and the company reserves the right to monitor any and all > activity. > > Would you say in this instance that the tools (firewall logging) used > would be classified as "spyware"? > > Darrell > > > --- [This E-mail scanned for viruses by Declude Virus] --- [This E-mail was scanned for viruses by Declude Virus (http://www.declude.com)] --- This E-mail came from the Declude.JunkMail mailing list. To unsubscribe, just send an E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], and type "unsubscribe Declude.JunkMail". The archives can be found at http://www.mail-archive.com.