Be aware: Your company is watching you

Call it the public service announcement to start off your year: If you’re working at a startup where IT is a little fuzzy, policies are evolving as the company is being built and the organization is evolving quickly, you’re at higher risk than usual that your employers are willing to move fast, do things and ask for permission later. In a world where AI tools are becoming more and more powerful, and where you sign a contract that says you’re completely cool with being tracked, there are a ton of companies (AktivTrak, ActiveOps, Veratio, to just name a few) that make software that can keep an eye on you, and your employers can install these on your computer with various degrees of stealth and permission from you.AktivTrak claims it is used by 9,000+ organizations, and that its tool can be used to “Reference detailed logs of user activities and security events to better understand what transpired, when and by whom, while simultaneously providing insights to help ensure compliance.” I don’t know about you, but I feel safer already. And as James Altucher points out in his column, eventually, they will fire you.You don’t owe a company your loyalty – Especially in the U.S., where a lot of employment is “at will,” i.e. you can be laid off at any time for any reason, you remain employed for as long as the company can afford you, and you’re contributing to the bottom line.