The New York Post: Just a short jump from Luddite to Big Brother

Rupert Murdoch, you talk a big game, going on about how newspapers must embrace the digital world in order to compete – but where is that fledgling technophilia when it comes to your own offices? According to one exasperated staffer, the Post brass has been waging a war against Instant Messaging at work. “People in our office who have IM need special permission to have it,” says our source. “And there’s a constant back and forth for having to justify their reasons for having it.”

Even more alarming, the Post has recently been installing spyware on staff computers in an effort to monitor the IM activities of their staff. “It’s really insidious,” said our source.

The spyware of choice is apparently Akonix, a system which provides “flexible, detailed control of IM use and message contents” and can “ensure IM is logged, archived and reviewed according to regulations.”

More paranoia-laced details after the jump.

Our source says no such ‘regulations’ have been circulated at the Post, other than a brief item informing staff that they were being “restricted and monitored.”

Akonix is apparently sensitive to numerous triggers that will shut down IM and internet access if a “malicious” word is used or a website that could potentially link to a restricted site is entered (“which pretty much includes every single news portal ever”).

Staffers have to wait until their system shuts down before figuring out what is forbidden – and it happens a lot. “You run the risk every day of having your internet access taken away for a few hours,” said our source. “They don’t seem to care that we spend more time watching the tech guys than we spend doing or jobs.”

In addition to the usual host of four-letter words, enterprising staffers discovered other, surprising triggers.

“The real kicker was when the word ‘vaginal’ shut down IM,” said our source. “I’m not wrong, right? This is sort of insane

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