The company cannot use keyboard recording software to monitor employees

The court issued this law after a lawsuit by a web developer with a media company in the North Rhine-Westphalia state of Germany.

The company fired the programmer due to information from the keylogger software

The developer worked for the company for four years but was fired in April 2015, a month after the company installed software to monitor keyboard activity on employees' devices. Not forewarned. In addition to monitoring keyboard activity, the software also captures the screen shots of the user according to the time interval.

The company fired him for using the company's computer to program games for another company. They say it is against the company regulation to use it for privacy and to fire him without notice.

He later filed a court case due to a sudden dismissal, saying he only spent three hours programming the game. All are during the lunch break, 10 minutes a day. This game is used for his father's game company.

The company cannot use keyboard recording software to monitor employees Picture 1
Use keylogger software to monitor allegedly illegal employees in Germany

The developer knows that the company tracks Internet traffic but is not aware of the computer activity recording software. He also countered that the information surrounding his dismissal was illegally collected because he used software to record computer activities, invade his private life, including personal and confidential conversations. password .

It is illegal to judge employees by keyloggers

The jury also agreed that tracking employees with the keylogger software had gone too far, but also said that companies were allowed to use such software when there was a good reason to doubt the employee. is violating the law.

However, keyloggers should not be used to track employees or resolve disputes. The jury said that it was unreasonable to fire this programmer.

Over the past 4 years, companies selling keylogger software say using these software is legal.