Device monitoring & in particular location tracking

[DavePa]

We are about to replace our existing switches / APs with Meraki equipment and one of the aspects of it that appeals to me is the MDM software (which I have hopefully signed up in time for). Amongst other things this allows us to locate the device on a map and take screenshots, see/kill running processes and so on. I installed this onto both my personal mobile and also a colleagues work owned mobile and showed him what it could do. The next day he came to see me and was absolutely seething, demanding that I REMOVE MY **** SPYWARE FROM THE PHONE NOW!!!!! He then spent the next 15 minutes berating me about human rights, data protection, privacy etc. and said that if it became company policy he would refuse to have a work mobile because IT'S NO **** BUSINESS OF YOURS WHERE I GO IN MY OWN TIME (to portray how this was delivered it would need to be 72pt boldface)

 

I have mixed feelings on this. I agree that we have no right to know where he is in his own time although to be honest, I'm not in the least bit interested in that. However, the benefits that it appears to offer in terms of data protection (ability to remotely wipe the device) and device management (add/remove programmes, lock the device down) are appealing to me. The senior management may also want to be able to track the device in case of theft etc.

 

Do you have similar (or even the same - Meraki Systems Manager / Meraki Dashboard) software and if so how do you explain to your users what it does - how did they take that, did you get the same objections? I've asked senior management for a policy and until that is answered I'll be doing nothing with it but what's the feeling here?