Corporate surveillance is the process of monitoring an individual or a group's behavior by a corporation. The collected data is most frequently used for business and marketing purposes, and is usually sold to companies, corporations or government agencies. In the commercial macrocosm, such data is invaluable as it allows businesses to adjust and modify their products or services in a way that increases their customer appeal, and it can be used for targeted advertising where the consumer receives ads only pertinent to his/her interest, specifications or behavioral patterns.
Google, the largest and most frequently used search engine, stores user-identifying information such as IP’s and keywords in its colossal digital repository for up to 18 months. The company uses extremely complex algorithms to scan the emails of all Gmail users in order to create targeted advertising predicated on what people are talking about in their personal email correspondences.
The U.S. government can tap into this immense inflow of data and gain access to millions of customer profiles by either sending a formal request or, in more immediate cases, produce a warrant for it. The Department of Homeland Security has explicitly admitted that it utilizes the user information gathered and segmented by companies like Google for enhancing and refining the profiles of people who it is actively monitoring. The sole analysis of a customer’s shopping patterns can be used by the US government to look for radical individuals with terroristic intentions.
Also, a substantial part of corporate surveillance is preventing lawsuits, inadequate time management, workplace inefficiencies and poor resource utilization, such as:
- Preventing exploitation and waste of company resources. Large corporations can hinder and discourage unfruitful personal activities such as social media browsing or online shopping being done on company time. Monitoring employee performance is a way to streamline their work, improve their focus and reduce unnecessary network traffic.
- Policy adherence. Online surveillance helps ensure that the employees respect the company’s legal terms and conditions.
- Preventing lawsuits. Online surveillance helps the company avoid copyright infringements, workplace harassments and other legal challenges.
- Safeguarding records. Protecting personal and company information is essential. Corporate surveillance and the continuous monitoring of employees can deter the leaking of documents and other unlawful appropriation of personal information.
- Safeguarding company assets. Online monitoring helps protect the company’s trade secrets, business strategies and intellectual property.
