Lane, a Vermont attorney whose last book, Obscene Profits, focused on the online porn business, said he originally started out with a plan for a book on corporate espionage. As he began his research, however, he found that the techniques used for spying in-house were in many ways more advanced and more potentially invasive than technologies traditionally associated with spying.

"I started out with the basic idea that there was a great deal of surveillance taking place," Lane said. "But I don't think that I had a full grasp of all the techniques that are being used. What struck me is how varied the different types of technologies are, ranging from biometrics to drug testing and now GPS."

The book revolves around the central thesis that employers' monitoring of workers' activity is on the rise as new technologies make it possible to capture more and more data with greater and greater ease.

[ ... ]

The comprehensiveness of data collection extends to job seekers as well. Lane reports that more companies require credit reports and engage in detailed public record searches on applicants before extending employment offers. According to Lane, no legal protection is available to job seekers denied employment because they refused to submit a credit report.

Lane expects some of these issues to be resolved as workplace-surveillance disputes make their way through the court system.

But he was surprised to see that the extensive monitoring hasn't met with as much resistance as he expected from unions and employees.

American Civil Liberties Union : Interested Persons Memo: Section-by-Section Analysis of Justice Department draft "Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003," also known as "PATRIOT Act II" .

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has been drafting comprehensive anti-terrorism legislation for the past several months.  The draft legislation, dated January 9, 2003, grants sweeping powers to the government, eliminating or weakening many of the checks and balances that remained on government surveillance, wiretapping, detention and criminal prosecution even after passage of the USA Patriot Act, Pub. L. No. 107-56, in 2001.

Among its most severe problems, the bill

Slashdot | Your Rights Online - Section-by-Section Analysis of PATRIOT II.

SlappyCat writes "The ACLU has a Section-by-Section Analysis of Justice Department draft 'Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003', also known as 'PATRIOT Act II'. This is scary stuff if it gets passed."

tecChannel : Inside Windows-Update.

When you connect your computer to Microsofts website windowsupdate.com, you reveal a lot of information about your computer to Microsoft. This article shows bit for bit, which data is transferred to Redmond and what Microsoft could learn from it.

theinquirer.net - Microsoft WinXP Update spies on other PC software. Software components reported to Vole Central

A report ON a German site claims that Microsoft extracts more information from a person's PC when the update Windows facility is used running the WinXP operating system.

According to tecCHANNEL, it has deciphered which data is transferred to Microsoft Central whenever you connect to its update web site.

The site's tecDUMP utility intercepts messages which were deciphered in the course of an exchange with Microsoft.

And, the site claims, the information can pass on to Microsoft a list of all of the software installed on an individual's computer, including software manufactured by other manufacturers.

According to tecCHANNEL, this information is more extensive than is necessary for the purpose. The site said Microsoft has not yet replied in detail to its concerns about passing sensitive data.

Slashdot | Examining Microsoft Update.

eggsovereasy writes "The Inquirer is reporting that a group in Germany has deciphered the information sent to Microsoft during an update using Windows Update and says that information on all software installed on your computer is sent, even that which is not Microsoft's own software." --- The original article is, unfortunately, pay-per-view.