Internet traffic monitored?

Visas, Permits, Passports and Naturalization
1
I was wondering, is it common in Switzerland to monitor internet traffic in the workplace?

Not for anything dodgy, just the quantity. I don't use it too much, just at lunch, but it would be good to know if Big Brother is watching.

Just, you know, wondering .

Look, I'll definitely learn German alright! I love the Swiss too! Even, you know, those ones!

2
AFAIK, they can't monitor what you, as an individual, is looking at.

However, we got a company presentation once on what everyone in the office was looking at, and please don't look at certain sites while at work. Showing nasty porn to your colleagues, accidentaly or otherwise, could still get you in a lot trouble.

I think this is why you can aquire some movies via a well know protocol and still get around the ban on uploading files, as even though you may be doing it, noone is allowed to go check.

3
Thanks Cyrus, just to clarify, it's not the content (I'm not a deviant, or stupid (well, not at work anyway)), but rather the time spent online.

I'm on about an hour a day, at lunch. Just curious, that's all.

4
I think no one would be interested, but how about going for a walk or cutting it down to half an hour instead. Not on that Englishforum again!

5
what does your employer say in their policies? You can bet that your traffic is being recorded - what they can and do with that depends on their policies.

everything else outside that is conjecture.

6
At my roommates job his internet sessions are recorded and monitored. So it depends on your work place.

7
According to law employers can monitor internet traffic anonymously but not individual employees. To monitor individual employees they have to have special reasons.

"Im Zusammenhang mit dem Surfen und der Nutzung von E-Mail am Arbeitsplatz bedeutet dies, dass

Überwachungen der Internet- und E-Mail-Nutzung durch ständige, personenbezogene Auswertungen

der Protokollierungen nicht zulässig sind"

Source

8
Really depends on the company...

For me, we are websensed on the office machines and completely free to browse anywhere on the visitor Wi-Fi, but it is known that ALL traffic is monitored.

As to the amount of time... Does it matter? Where I work the rule of thumb is 'as long as it does not interfere with your workload'.

B

9
Our place has a tracker installed and management are very open about the fact they can see everything we're doing. Recently a colleague asked to work from home which used to be a big no-no. Our boss replied, "I suppose so, now I can see if you really are working"

10
If you are interested in the topic visit:

http://www.dataprotection.ch/en/inte...rveillance.asp

for an English language run down of what may or may not be acceptable.

11
Aye, and that would be my take on it. I've nothing personally to be concerned about, I was just wondering. They track our hours 'in' work at Novartis, and treat you like adults, which is nice. Was just wondering about it.

I'm several hours in credit (time spent at work), and would be a bit weird if some of that extra time was just trawling the internet. (Or as a French friend and colleague put it, "we are always stealing things from work!").

Before anyone gets excited, I a) love the French in particular and b) those were his words.