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Software that Mines Employees’ Computer Address Books Raises Privacy Concerns

Apr 28th, 2008 • Posted in: News

But Wall Street Journal reports that it’s also profitable, so sometimes those objections melt away

NEW YORK
Companies are finding that a new software that mines data from employees’ contacts lists and emails is raising privacy concerns, reports the Wall Street Journal.

The software is intended to help workers learn which of their fellow employees have contacts with various clients, providing knowledge that can facilitate introductions.

For example, a salesman who wants to make a sales call on a corporate CEO could use the software to find a co-worker who knows the CEO and who presumably could smooth the cold-call.

But employees sometimes rebel. Journal reporter William Bulkeley reports that one lawyer noted a “very harsh reaction” when an internal contact-mining program called ContactNet was installed at his firm.

On the other hand, once the members of the firm realized the program’s profit potential, most of the resistance evaporated, especially when they learned that attorneys with the original contact would profit from any work eventually landed via the program, notes the Journal report.

Source: Wall Street Journal, Apr. 29.

For more information, see: Related Newsline story, Apr. 21 — Related Newsline story, Apr. 14 — Related Newsline story, Mar. 31 — Related Newsline story, Mar. 31 — Related Newsline story, Mar. 24.

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1. ethics for the real world » Blog Archive » “Right to Privacy” in Email Software Confused as an Ethical Issue on April 29th, 2008 at 10:34 am:

   [...] Ethics Newsline, a weekly digest of worldwide ethics news, picked it up in there summary of ethically sensitive [...]

2. Ethics Newsline » News » Billboards Go High-Tech, but There’s an Ethics Dispute on June 2nd, 2008 at 5:45 pm:

   [...] May 19 — Related Newsline story, May 5 — Related Newsline story, May 5 — Related Newsline story, Apr. 28 — Related Newsline story, Apr. 21.  Print This Story  Email This [...]

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