As part of or most recent IT audit the technical services people here are
installing a piece of software that allows the content of any screen to be
viewed from a remote location by the technical services team. As part of
this they can take control of any PC we have by using a keyboard and mouse
from the remote location.
Whilst i understand that this is an invaluable tool for the diagnosis and
treatment of technical problems and to ensure that the network is not used
for purposes other than academic reset, i must admit that i do have some
concerns about this.
My concerns lie in the area of 'confidentiality of research', I, like some
of my colleagues, have offered confidentiality when conducting interviews
etc. However, whereas before working documents/interview schedules, notes
etc. can be kept secure by the use of password protected documents and the
like these measures offer no security against a system that allows any of
the technical services staff to view (and potentially copy) any document
that we currently have open.
Whilst i have no reason whatsoever to suspect that this system will be
abused, i have a number of colleagues who are working in fields such as
sexual abuse and gay relationships who are understandably concerned.
Concerns have also been expressed in relation to contract work that is
undertaken on behalf of third parties (large corporations/government
departments etc.) where undertakings regarding confidentiality are
commonplace.
I realise that this is a huge grey area within working practices generally
and within the Data Protection Act specifically, but i was wondering if any
other crit-geogers out there have any experience of anything similar and
what people's thoughts are on this issue.
Andrew Bradley
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