# Using 3G card for Tracking employees whereabouts. posssible? legal? how to manage?



## Lanigano (30 May 2007)

I have recently got new 3G card for my work computer. My boss hinted that he can track my whereabouts using this. I work hard and am successful in my job so he has no reason to track me that i can think of. Im not sure if he was joking but I have a few questions.
1. Is this legal?
2. I presume 3G cards can only be tracked when switched on, is this true?
3. Any advice as to how i should handle it with boss?
4. Anyone else come accross the same thing?

Many Thanks


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## wirelessdude (30 May 2007)

*Re: Tracking employees whereabouts.*

it's not a GPS module so trust me your grand...i work in the telecoms area


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## jimmyd (30 May 2007)

*Re: Tracking employees whereabouts.*

He's just messing with you


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## Lanigano (30 May 2007)

*Re: Tracking employees whereabouts.*

I was looking on O2 website and it said that they offer this as a service to customers i.e track their employees through 3G cards. Are you sure that this card I have cant be tracked?


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## Lanigano (30 May 2007)

*Re: Tracking employees whereabouts.*


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## z109 (30 May 2007)

*Re: Tracking employees whereabouts.*

It's now a staple of hollywood and crime dramas that you can be tracked by your mobile phone. As a 3g card is just a mobile phone without a keypad, I don't see why technically you couldn't be tracked.

As I understand (and this is where my knowledge becomes fuzzy) they could only tell what general area you are in - as you move from one area to another, you log off one mobile mast and on to another, so they would be able to say that you are in the general vicinity of a particular mast. I did see something in a movie (Enemy of the State) I think where they triangulated someone's position from this, but at the time I put that down to movie magic...

Anyone know more?


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## z108 (30 May 2007)

*Re: Tracking employees whereabouts.*

I have a German mobile phone number and I can login to my phone account on o2.de and click a weblink there and it tells me the name of the street I am in and shows a bullseye on a map. Its exactly the same as the Irish O2 web account except it has this location finder feature. The sim card is exactly the same so if you have a normal sim card on your 3G card  then its very possible.
I think Its kind of creepy and dont use it when im in Dublin but if I ever lost the phone it would come in handy.


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## extopia (30 May 2007)

*Re: Tracking employees whereabouts.*

If you've nothing to worry about I don't understand why you're fretting about this. I'd assume your boss was just having his little joke. If you have reason to think he's trying to intimidate you, well that's another story, but this is probably not the forum in which to discuss it, as you've probably already given away enough information to identify yourself if your boss happens to read this.


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## Capaill (30 May 2007)

*Re: Tracking employees whereabouts.*



Lanigano said:


> I have recently got new 3G card for my work computer. My boss hinted that he can track my whereabouts using this. I work hard and am successful in my job so he has no reason to track me that i can think of. Im not sure if he was joking but I have a few questions.
> 1. Is this legal?
> 2. I presume 3G cards can only be tracked when switched on, is this true?
> 3. Any advice as to how i should handle it with boss?
> ...



Lanigano

Monitoring your location without your explicit permission would be an intrusion on your privacy and would come under the Data Protection Act.  It is also a breach of Human Rights, as recognised in the European Convention on Human Rights and the EU Charter on Fundamental Rights which all EU member states have endorsed.  So if you remployer wanted to introduce this he woudl need to do so under the terms of the Data Protection Act and ensure that there is no infringement on your rights.  

By the way  under the 2005 Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Act and EU Data Reterntion legislation all ISPs and telecoms companies in Ireland are obliged to store the details - but not the content- of all call records, email header details and in the case of mobile phones the location of the phone for a minimum period of three years.

C


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## dodo (30 May 2007)

*Re: Tracking employees whereabouts.*

Your Boss should know your wherabouts if you are on his working time, most trucks, jcbs have tracking systems on them now.If you are such a good worker then you dont have to worry, same as big brother that they want to bring more into our lives you need not worry only if you are doing something you should not be doing.


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## Lanigano (31 May 2007)

*Re: Tracking employees whereabouts.*

I have nothing to hide but I do feel that its a complete lack of trust on my employers behalf. If i was doing a bad job well maybe I could understand it as a last resort but Im not, in fact I often work longers hours than Im expected to. I find the idea of them tracking me a bit weird and if anything a complete demotivator to work hard. Its just a query as to where I stand as an employee really and what are my rights?


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## robd (31 May 2007)

*Re: Tracking employees whereabouts.*



Capaill said:


> Lanigano
> 
> Monitoring your location without your explicit permission would be an intrusion on your privacy and would come under the Data Protection Act.  It is also a breach of Human Rights, as recognised in the European Convention on Human Rights and the EU Charter on Fundamental Rights which all EU member states have endorsed.  So if you remployer wanted to introduce this he woudl need to do so under the terms of the Data Protection Act and ensure that there is no infringement on your rights.
> 
> ...



Except that it's not you that's being monitored, it's the 3G data card that is being monitored which is the property of the company.


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## robd (31 May 2007)

*Re: Tracking employees whereabouts.*



Lanigano said:


> I have recently got new 3G card for my work computer. My boss hinted that he can track my whereabouts using this. I work hard and am successful in my job so he has no reason to track me that i can think of. Im not sure if he was joking but I have a few questions.
> 1. Is this legal?
> 2. I presume 3G cards can only be tracked when switched on, is this true?
> 3. Any advice as to how i should handle it with boss?
> ...



It is possible to provide location information for a GSM or 3G phone or data card.  Basically, the location can be roughly worked out by calculating (triangulated) the signal strength of radio messages sent by the phone/card to different cells.  It's more acurate in cities due larger number and closer proximity of cells.  This is not new technology, and has been around for 7 or 8 years.

If the operator has the system to do this then they can provide the info.

It's unlikely (but still possible) that they'd store a history of location as the data storage requirements and thus costs would be vast and it's use limited.  The main purpose of having this information, especially in 3G, is to be able to provide location based information services, such as restaraunts near by etc.


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## Capaill (31 May 2007)

*Re: Tracking employees whereabouts.*



dodo said:


> Your Boss should know your wherabouts if you are on his working time, most trucks, jcbs have tracking systems on them now.If you are such a good worker then you dont have to worry, same as big brother that they want to bring more into our lives you need not worry only if you are doing something you should not be doing.



Hi Dodo

If the OP has not agreed to this and the employer puts a monitoring system in place then, in my opinion and note I am not a solicitor, this is an intrusion on his basic and legal human right to privacy.  These rights are important and it does not matter whether you have nothing to fear.  Too often in the past innocent people have suffered because their basic rights were abused.  We need to ensure we protect these rights and prevent their gradual erosion.  

C


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## dodo (31 May 2007)

*Re: Tracking employees whereabouts.*



Capaill said:


> Hi Dodo
> 
> If the OP has not agreed to this and the employer puts a monitoring system in place then, in my opinion and note I am not a solicitor, this is an intrusion on his basic and legal human right to privacy.  These rights are important and it does not matter whether you have nothing to fear.  Too often in the past innocent people have suffered because their basic rights were abused.  We need to ensure we protect these rights and prevent their gradual erosion.
> 
> C


Look a boss will say to a driver of a truck I am putting a tracking sysytem on your machine, he is not asking he is just letting him know that it is going to happen, the driver can leave his job if he wants but if he want's to keep his job then he has no say on whether his boss can monitor him or should I say his truck,  these are the facts,  just like you can put camera's up in a warehouse  where people work if you want, you might not like it but these  are the facts,


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## Capaill (1 Jun 2007)

*Re: Tracking employees whereabouts.*

Dodo

I am afraid I don't agree with the above.  Yes the company has a right to protect its property and its business but NOT at the expense of the rights of the employees.  Companies wishing to introduce monitoring of employees need to do so in consultation and in such a way as not to impinge of the rights of the employee.

In the case of the OP, if the employer claims to track their movements via the 3G data card then this in effect means that wherever the OP takes the card the employer can track them.  What about when the OP is not working, can the employer still monitor where the card and by extension where the OP is?  Where the OP goes outside of work hours is none of the employers business.  

Regarding your comment regarding CCTV there are parameters that employers need to look at implementing same.  See the Data Protection Commissioner's website for more details [broken link removed].

Companies wishing to introduce monitoring of employees in whatever form would do well to seek advise from the Data Protection Commissioner.

C


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## robd (1 Jun 2007)

*Re: Tracking employees whereabouts.*



Capaill said:


> In the case of the OP, if the employer claims to track their movements via the 3G data card then this in effect means that wherever the OP takes the card the employer can track them.  What about when the OP is not working, can the employer still monitor where the card and by extension where the OP is?  Where the OP goes outside of work hours is none of the employers business.



This is rubbish.  The position of the card can only be monitored when it is turned on.  Turn it off or don't use it and it can't be monitored.  It's the property of the company, a of the job, and it can be monitored (the same way as a truck, a train and in a the near future a Dublin Bus can be tracked).  If the guy doesn't like it he can get his own 3G data card not belonging to the company or not use the card or simply leave the card in the office. 

Geeez you make it sound like he's got a tracking device embedded in his neck or something and his boss would know when he's in the pub.


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## Capaill (1 Jun 2007)

*Re: Tracking employees whereabouts.*

Robd

All I am trying to point out is that monitoring of staff whereabouts and not that of the device, which is what the original poster asked "My boss hinted that he can track my whereabouts using this.", needs to be implemented by the employer in a manner consistent with current laws and regulations.  This is a very thorny legal area that companies need to thread carefully.

C


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