Spy-bots
the dark side of monitoring agents?

Intelligent agents work for you, in your name. Whether their task is to find information on the Internet, to buy a product on-line, to monitor Web sites etc. They also enable you to place the activities of other people under surveillance: employees, wives, children... Are spy-bots the dark side of intelligent agents?

Where some people see this type of software as a risk of an invasion of privacy, others see a way of verifying how computers and Internet connections are being used, in order to avoid any abuse.

Installed on a computer, these monitoring agents record even the smallest activity that takes place: the programs launched, the sites visited, the mails sent, instant messaging, everything can be discreetly recorded. Mostly easy to use and to configure, they offer an opportunity to make sure that the computer material is being used correctly, in accordance with a clearly defined contract of confidence.