Big Mother 2.10 - User Guide and FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions - Big Mother

1. What is TupInsight? Is there a difference between it and a spyware-based monitoring program?
   TupInsight is an easy-to-install and navigate Internet activity monitoring and web access control system. It uses a computer on a local area network (LAN) not only to monitor and record other hosts' web behaviors, but also to restrict online activities according to customized filtering Internet policies.
   
   TupInsight is an eavesdropping program that uses a packet sniffer to capture and analyze communication traffic over a network. This is very similar to wiretapping of voice transmission, or listening in on other people's telephone conversations. On the other hand, a spyware-based Internet monitoring program, such as the well-known Eblaster or Spector from spectorsoft or Insight from Trisys, tracks a target's web use or even general computer use by installing itself on the computer and sending the information via the network back to the program's installer. This is much similar to implanting a bugging device on someone's phone receiver.
   
   Like an implanted "bug," spyware can be detected and removed from a computer using anti-spyware programs, and the tracked information blocked using a firewall that monitors outgoing connections from the computer.
   
   Moreover, another function of TupInsight, with the same importance as Internet activity monitoring, is to tailor the online access control for the whole LAN on the level of individual computer hosts.
   
   
2. What differentiate TupInsight from the similar products?
   From the very beginning of developing the product, what TupInsight had envisioned was a feature that would allow a small & midsize business owner or executive director in an organization to do Internet monitoring and blocking without third-party participation, while enabling distributed management of data by sharing different levels of access privileges with their subordinate managers. Indeed, a complicated product, such as Websense Enterprise, is gorgeous, but it is also at an unbelievable cost (as compared to that of TupInsight) and needs to add a dedicated IT staff operating and maintaining the system.
   
   Furthermore, the hierarchical design of TupInsight and its straightforward interface make the task of employee Internet management (EIM) very nearly painless.
   
   
3. Is it legal to monitor employees' Internet habits at work?
   "Federal law here in the U.S. clearly states that the computer system is the property of the employer and as such the employer has the right to monitor all e-mail activity and Internet activity," according to Nancy Flynn, executive director of The ePolicy Institute, a Columbus, Ohio-based consulting firm, and author of "E-Mail Rules."