News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Employers who use software to take screenshots of workers... by codesuela on Saturday April 18, 2020 @02:44PM (#22910067)
This seems pretty easy to game for a software engineer:

1. Write code for the project and record mouse clicks and keystrokes

2. Replay keystrokes at .5 speed inside a mirrored VM

a more sophisticated tool could also vary speed and add typos.

Re:Employers who use software to take screenshots of workers... by rapind on Saturday April 18, 2020 @03:13PM (#22910275)
Agreed, and bring it on. If this becomes a thing then I'll run a platform you can outsource your busy time in a VM to. This sounds like a ton of fun TBH and makes me think of game automation. Evolving into a game of cat and mouse and giving me an excuse to spend more time messing w/ OpenAI.
Re:Employers who use software to take screenshots of workers... by sitkack on Saturday April 18, 2020 @03:46PM (#22910528)
This is how the AI takes over, we automate ourselves in silly ways. How do we know we aren't bots doing someone else's work?
Re:Employers who use software to take screenshots of workers... by jowsie on Sunday April 19, 2020 @08:27AM (#22915438)
Re:Employers who use software to take screenshots of workers... by rapind on Saturday April 18, 2020 @04:49PM (#22910995)
Would it change anything if we knew we were? :)
Re:Employers who use software to take screenshots of workers... by amiga_500 on Saturday April 18, 2020 @03:14PM (#22910287)
Employer: your keystroke rate is low

Me: I'm thinking about if I should use a string here in c++

Employer: fair enough

Re:Employers who use software to take screenshots of workers... by humaniania on Saturday April 18, 2020 @03:00PM (#22910184)
Or just play a full screen slide show of various spreadsheets and documents. Will they really study the screenshots that closely to see the repetition?
Re:Employers who use software to take screenshots of workers... by SilasX on Saturday April 18, 2020 @03:09PM (#22910250)
Sure, spot-check and scrutize a small fraction.

(Not to say I endorse this means of tracking employees' time, I just don't think that's a big impediment to this method.)

Re:Employers who use software to take screenshots of workers... by elliekelly on Saturday April 18, 2020 @03:28PM (#22910392)
In my experience employers only tend to look back at things like this once they have a “reason” and are trying to document/justify performance issues. Although I agree it doesn’t seem too far off to have a system that proactively analyzes the screenshots and alerts a manager when Facebook or gmail seems to be open a disproportionate amount of time.
Re:Employers who use software to take screenshots of workers... by jdc on Saturday April 18, 2020 @02:54PM (#22910140)
Goodhart's law in action
Re:Employers who use software to take screenshots of workers... by downerending on Saturday April 18, 2020 @03:59PM (#22910618)
Or hire a sidekick from India to slowly and circuitously type it all in.
Re:Employers who use software to take screenshots of workers... by throwaway888abc on Saturday April 18, 2020 @03:01PM (#22910192)
Yes, those are possible to escape. I had few gigs and the spying was required. VM was a successful solution (not automated).