There has been some discussion about the legality of remote desktop monitoring and whether or not it infringes upon anyone’s right to privacy. However, most instances of such monitoring are performed in the home and in the workplace. Parents will sometimes use a program that lets them monitor their children’s online activities. While employers will sometimes install such a program on company’s computer system so employee computer activity can be seen via a terminal server manager tool. Neither one of these instances could be considered an invasion of privacy because a parent has the right to protect their children and a business owner has the right to protect his investments.
By installing a remote monitoring system on a computer, the administrators can track every operation performed on any given machine. A remote monitor tracks things like when someone logs on or off the computer, which websites they visit, which computer operations were performed during the time logged in and how much time was spent on various tasks. For parents, this can be an invaluable tool in helping keep their children safe online. For employers, a system like this will pay for itself over time by cutting back on the number of hours wasted by employees who are not on task when at their computers.
