Activity monitoring vs. surveillance: building privacy-first desktop tracking
Employee monitoring software has a reputation problem. Stories of companies tracking keystrokes, taking screenshots every five minutes, and logging every website visit have made workers suspicious of any time tracking tool. But there is a meaningful difference between surveillance (watching employees to catch wrongdoing) and activity monitoring (helping employees understand how they spend their time).
At BetterQA, we built BetterFlow's activity monitoring with privacy-first principles. Here is how architecture decisions shape whether a tool helps or harms.
What data is actually needed?
Most surveillance tools collect far more data than necessary. Screenshots, keystrokes, and webcam feeds are not needed to answer the question "how much time did I spend on this project today?"
BetterFlow's desktop agent collects:
- Active application name: Which app is in the foreground
- Window title (optional and configurable): What document or tab is active
- Duration: How long each app was active
- Idle detection: Periods of no keyboard/mouse activity
What it does NOT collect:
- Screenshots
- Keystrokes
- Clipboard contents
- File contents
- Browser history (only active tab domain, not full URLs)
- Webcam or microphone data
User control over their data
Surveillance assumes the employer owns all data about employee activity. Privacy-first monitoring gives employees control:
Visibility before submission: Employees see exactly what data will be synced before it leaves their device. They can review and delete entries.
Categorization control: Employees categorize their own time. The system might detect "Browser: 2 hours" but the employee decides whether to log it as research, distraction, or client work.
Opt-out for sensitive work: Employees can pause tracking during personal activities, confidential meetings, or simply when they want privacy.
Window title hashing for privacy
Window titles often contain sensitive information: "Performance Review - John Smith.docx" or "Salary Planning Q3.xlsx". BetterFlow offers window title hashing: the system knows you worked in Excel for 2 hours, but it stores a hash of the window title rather than the plaintext.
This enables pattern detection (you worked on spreadsheets) without exposing content (which spreadsheets). Employees can whitelist specific applications where full titles are appropriate (like project management tools).
Aggregate vs individual reporting
How data is reported matters as much as what is collected. Surveillance-oriented tools show managers exactly what each employee did minute-by-minute. Privacy-first tools aggregate:
- Team averages rather than individual breakdowns
- Categories (development, meetings, admin) rather than specific apps
- Daily summaries rather than minute-by-minute logs
- Anomaly detection (unusual patterns) rather than constant monitoring
Managers see "Sarah averaged 6.5 productive hours per day this month" rather than "Sarah spent 47 minutes on Twitter yesterday."
Legal and ethical considerations
GDPR and similar regulations require legitimate business purpose for data collection. "We want to spy on employees" is not legitimate. "We need accurate project costing" is legitimate, but it does not justify collecting screenshots.
The principle of data minimization requires collecting only what is necessary. Activity monitoring for time tracking needs app names and durations. It does not need keystroke logs.
Building trust through transparency
When implementing activity monitoring, transparency builds trust:
- Explain the purpose: Why are we collecting this data? (Accurate project costing, capacity planning)
- Show what is collected: Let employees see their own raw data
- Demonstrate value: Use the data to help employees, not just monitor them
- Give control: Let employees pause, delete, and categorize their data
When employees see activity monitoring as a tool that helps them (track their own productivity, justify their hours to clients, identify where time goes) rather than a surveillance tool, adoption improves dramatically.
About BetterFlow
Built by BetterQA, a software testing company. BetterFlow's activity monitoring is designed for employee empowerment, not surveillance. We collect only what is needed and give users full control over their data.
Sources & References
- Harvard Business Review - The Risks of Employee Monitoring
- GDPR - Employee Monitoring Guidelines
- Gartner: Employee Monitoring Trends
Published by BetterQA, an ISO 27001 and ISO 9001 certified company with 8+ years of experience in software quality assurance. According to research by McKinsey, data-driven project management improves team productivity by up to 25%. Last updated on .
- Built by BetterQA, founded in 2018 in Cluj-Napoca, Romania
- ISO 27001 certified security and GDPR compliant
- Trusted by teams across 15+ countries
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