Hey Ladiez - Aunty B is now officialy paranoid about workplace surveillance. Will be looking for some internet geek assistance to get low cost computer/software upgrade at home in the coming months. Now off to find a single, handsome IT expert, hardy har.

Go ahead and post any media that's caught your eye recently, if you feel so inclined. Any one got thoughts on the lovely Miss Hanson's phoenix-like reappearence from an Aussie gulag? I would have thought Costello and co. would have been savvy enough to recognise the risk of matyrdom in the political arena. Silly boys. Is she just even more "one of the ordinary folks" now?

Sydney Morning Herald - November 8 2003 By Sue Lowe (extracts)

Watching where employees go on the internet used to be something companies did discreetly, but no longer. Big Brother is coming out of hiding.

Staff at the ABC are among the first to face pop-up dialogue boxes, telling them: "The ABC does not regard the material contained in this site as reasonable for personal use and, if requested, you must be able to justify that your use of this site properly relates to ABC business. "Breach of this policy may result in disciplinary action including the termination of your employment."

The pop-up is prompted by a wide range of sites, not only porn, gambling or poor-taste jokes. "It caused a lot of aggravation to begin with," said one employee, who asked not to be named. "People felt they were being treated like three-year-olds."

At the end of each month, departmental heads get a print-out of apparent violations and can request a confidential report that drills down to an individual. Mr Palmer said one staff member had been sacked over a severe violation. Others had received warnings to "get back to work".

Under a workplace surveillance bill being drafted by the Carr Government, all employers would be required to be similarly open in any surveillance of staff.