RIM Denies Recording Employees' Phone Conversations
RIM has denied a report that the company records all of its employees' conversations.Lincoln Spector, The Industry Standard
RIM has denied a report that the company records all of its employees' conversations.
On Wednesday, Research in Motion CIO Robin Bienfait was quoted as saying that everything written and spoken on the company's internal network gets recorded. The original ZDNet Australia article quotes Bienfait explaining how she keeps close tabs on what employees write and say using the internal network. "I record everything," she stated, adding that employees are "doing business inside of RIM. Everything they can say or do can be patented." The article said that the employees are informed of the situation, and if they have private business to conduct, "they may want their own personal device."
But according to a blog post published Friday on CIO.com, Bienfait's words were taken out of context. RIM provided CIO.com with an unequivocal statement denying that the company recorded employee conversations ("RIM does not record employee phone calls") and an explanation: Bienfait was discussing an internal beta of technology that will allow other companies -- such as those in certain regulated industries -- to play Big Brother with their employees. Naturally, the RIM employees taking part in the beta had to agree to this treatment for the course of the testing.
It's nice to know that RIM doesn't spy on their employees, even if they're willing to cater to other companies that do.