Monitoring employee cell phones

My friend who owns a hedge fund company uses AirWatch http//www.air-watch.com/

All employees are informed that their activities are being monitored upfront.

http//www.air-watch.com/company/privacy-policy/

The information collected and tracked by the AirWatch Console depends upon the system configurations chosen by our Customer. While the following are not required, such information may include, where enabled by the Customer

• Device identifier and device username
• Status of the mobile device SIM card
• MAC addresses and device serial numbers
• Phone number, signal strength, cell tower, carrier, IMEI#, and other WWAN attributes
• First and last name and email address of device user
• Data usage through WWAN interface (excluding content)
• Transaction history regarding SMS, email and phone calls, excluding the content of messages and calls.
• Device check-out/check-in tracking who uses which device as well as the physical status of the device at the start of a shift and then again at the end of a shift
• Tracking of associated device assets, including service plan and associated physical equipment (i.e., cradles, etc.)
• Tracking of applications loaded on the device (excluding content)
• Real-time GPS location tracking and mapping, including analysis of location data and history
• Mobile device remote control, including screen capture.

added just a few bold and red here and there … roll

Missing accessory wink
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/smart-phone-chained-handcuff-hand-isolated-327098111

jaclaz

@jaclaz - congrats you reached 3500 posts UTC 194513

While I tend to agree with the posts from users saying it is unethical and immoral, a thought popped into my head.

Employees who drive company vehicles are often tracked using GPS. Why do we generally see this as acceptable, but not the same case for mobile devices?

Apologies if this is really off topic!

Employees who drive company vehicles are often tracked using GPS. Why do we generally see this as acceptable, but not the same case for mobile devices?

Because they are at different "levels" of intrusion in an employee's life?

Let's say I am tracking my vehicle that you drive as my employee.
Your timetable is 8 am to 5 pm with one hour break for lunch.
At 5.01 pm you leave the vehicle in the company parking lot and get it next day at 7.59 am.
I can control your movements exclusively within the work time, I can make sure that you are punctual, that you do not arrive late in the morning, that you don't leave the vehicle in the parking lot too early, that the vehicle actually didn't move for 1 hour between 12 and 1 pm which is your lunch time.
Not that much an intrusion in your privacy though a lot of unions may protest about it if the data gathered is used for (say) reducing your salary if you are late or take too much time for lunch.

Now let's imagine that I am tracking my phone that you use as my employee.
Would this phone be switched on at 8 am and switched off at 5 pm?
Or more likely I would expect you to have it on at all times just in case?
Would I (or the evil geek in my IT) check how much time you spend in the bathroom during work time (which already starts being highly debatable) or - just for the fun of it - would I check where you are at - say - 11 pm?
What if - by pure chance - you result staying for over three hours, two times a week at an address that is not yours and is known to be the address on one of your colleagues?
Would this imply that you have a relation with him/her?
Wouldn't this be a serious invasion of your privacy?

jaclaz

Exceptionally I agree on jaclaz's comparison