Technology Is Watching The Watchers

"Do I have questions about what we do?" he said. "I constantly think about how technology can be misused. I mean in theory you could read anything anyone sends across the Internet . . . that's emails, IM, everything."

It is an issue of trust.

Websense, a San Diego-based IT company, takes it one step further. Instead of simply monitoring Internet use, its software blocks categories of Web sites from employees' terminals. The company says it reported $179 million in revenue last year.

Insulting? "We don't personally feel that way," Senior Director Steve Kelley said. "The alternative is to have the boss stand there and watch you all day."

To bolster their case, IT companies quote a study by a Chicago consulting firm estimating a $1.2 billion loss from the 19-day tournament. The research found that losses related to people watching games online could reach $86 million for the first two days of the tournament, when the number watching is greatest.

What the tech companies don't include, however, is the study's accompanying advice.

"Companies should embrace March Madness, rather than fight it," said author John Challenger, chief executive of consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. "Companies are having trouble finding the people they want. It will get even harder if you start treating them like prisoners."

In an age of BlackBerries, telecommuting and multitasking, the boundary between personal life and work is diminishing, he said, and so is office camaraderie.

"What better way to do team-building than through the tournament?" Challenger said.

Patrick Osborne sees it differently. Head of IT for the American Association of Airport Executives, he bought eTelemetry's first Metron unit last October.

He got the technology mainly because too many people listening to music or streaming live basketball games can choke up his network.

No one has been fired or reprimanded at his office in Alexandria, and he insisted that he is too busy to watch what people are doing. But ever since he brought in the machine, some people have started calling him "Big Brother."

"I try not to be a mean guy," he said. "I like to think I'm well-liked here, as well-liked as an IT guy gets."