The Ugly Face of Corporate IM

Yesterday I touched on the upcoming Microsoft LCS and its possible opportunity in the corporate IM marketplace. A second article has come to my attention that attempts to surface some of the sludge from the murky depths of corporate infrastructure.

I don't know how many people are working from deep within a cubicle these days, but the heavy hand of Big Brother may be coming down on your shoulder soon. News.com has the report:

According to the ePolicy-AMA survey, 60 percent of U.S. companies now use software to monitor incoming and outgoing external e-mail, while 27 percent of employers use software to track internal e-mail between employees. By contrast, employers have been relatively slow to monitor instant messaging, with just 10 percent of companies surveyed indicating they have taken steps to listen in on desktop chat.

"Employers think IM is an emerging technology and they don't have to monitor it yet," Flynn said. "But if they have employees in their 20s, chances are (those employees) probably have been using IM since high school and view it as old technology. And if a company doesn't provide enterprise IM, (workers will) probably go out on the Internet and download a free version."

Source: "Mind those IMs--your cubicle's walls have eyes", News.com

Clearly there are some large issues at stake here and it's going to take a considerable amount of examination and concession to reach a set of guidelines that keep both sides happy (I think at least). Is your company monitoring your IM conversations? Do you have guidelines you can share? Would this be a major issue for you as you considered a new job?