your every move. A variety of new technology has made it easier to spy on someone for those who want to do so. The crucial aspect of these devices and software, of course, rests on how people use them. Some of the technology can be used in the workplace, some at home. In the workplace employers will have to balance a need to monitor employees for good practice, with their need for privacy. Those who tend toward authoritarianism may believe employees should have no privacy in the workplace. Technically they are correct. An employer is paying for employees time and has the right to determine how well that time is being used even if it means being somewhat intrusive. But I think such monitoring, when it gets to the extreme, may turn out to be counterproductive in the long run by making employees resentful and less willing to go the extra distance for the employer.

Of course there's no excuse for being stupid. Last month Salomon Smith Barney fired two securities analysts for sending pornography through the firm's electronic mail system. The employees were caught because the firm has a computer monitoring system which can inspect individual messages. Salomon Smith has had a policy in place prohibiting the electronic transmission of offensive images or text such as pornography, and cited its policy as the reason for the firings.

Many forward thinking companies have implemented such policies as a way of protection from lawsuits. For example, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. was sued in 1996 by two employees after racist jokes were sent through the firm's e-mail. The suit was dismissed, but Morgan's experience sent a warning to other companies.

Then there was Cameron Barrett in Traverse City, Michigan who was fired from his job of teaching computer technology at a marketing company after he suggested trainees might learn something by going to his personal homepage on the Internet.

A few women staff members did, and complained to the boss when they read his violent and sexually explicit fiction. The employer accused Mr. Barrett of deliberately trying to attract the women to his site. Mr. Barrett denied the claim.

While some may debate whether Mr. Barrett should have been fired or not, the case does send a warning that public venues such as the Internet can be used by employers to check out whether you're suitable hiring material.

Now that the Internet is becoming more readily available in the workplace, corporations are becoming more aware of the perils versus the benefits. Elron Internet Manager (elronsoftware.com), Surfcontrol Scout (surcontrol.com), Sentinel Policy (securitysoft.com), and Cyber Patrol Corporate are four such software programs that monitor and control employee Internet use.

The programs let administrators control who's getting on the Internet and when. The programs produce regular reports, with breakdown by site, time and department use. Sentinel also allows administrators to block inappropriate Web, e-mail, newsgroup and application use.

Elron seems to be the most invasive of the lot. The company has made available a template companies can use to make corporate policy on electronic transmissions. Elron's "Internet Usage and Security Policy'' is available on the company's Internet site.

Surfers should also know their movements may be tracked on the Internet by marketing agenicies through "cookies'' -- small electronic programs which latch on to your computer when you visit a site and then sends information about you to the company. Go into the preferences section of your browser and turn on the "refuse cookies'' option to thwart the spies. You can also visit the Electronic Privacy Information Centre (epic.org) for the latest on computer privacy, and on tools such as encryption programs, anonymous remailers, and cookie busters. The Anonymizer (anonymizer.com) is a site the helps you keep your identity secret on the Web by acting as an intermediary between you and other sites you visit. The service costs $5 a month.

Truste (truste.org) is an activist site that vets and issues seals of approvals to Web publishers who fully disclose what information they're collecting from surfers and how they use it.

Ultimate Privacy Personal Edition software is an example of an encryption program for those who are worried about someone reading their personal messages.

The software is available for download (ultimateprivacy.com) at $49 only to those in the US and Canada. Current US laws regarding the importation of encryption technology prevents the company from selling it abroad. You can always get the software next time you visit the US or Canada. Of course there are those among us who'd like to reveal as much to the world as possible.

"Jennifer'' is a 21-year-old woman who was made famous last month after Tele-Communications Inc. President Leo Hindery got on his pulpit at a religious conference and thundered against immorality on the Internet.

Jennifer has a TV camera in her apartment chronicling her every movement and then diplays the pictures on the Internet at jennicam.org for all to see.

Hindery said the site shows "Jenny dressing, sleeping, working playing with her cat and having sex.'' Hmm. A voyeur's delight, an employer's nightmare.