Mass surveillance is a constant concern for journalists around the world, whether it’s government surveillance, hunting down confidential sources or other spying.

But what about when it’s the media spying on itself?

The Guardian has broken the story overnight that Storyful, a subsidiary of News Corp, has developed software for journalists that monitors videos and images seen by reporters using it. The tool, called Verify, is installed as a plug-in to tell users when videos and images have been verified by Storyful, a company that verifies and licenses social media content.

According to The Guardian’s report, users including The New York Times, Washington Post and ABC News in the US were encouraged to install the plug-in, which actively monitored what users were looking at, and sent it to an internal feed at Storyful.

Storyful told The Guardian it made “clear disclosures” on how the plug-in worked, and that it took “privacy matters very seriously, we collect all data responsibly, and we are transparent in the way we use that data”.

It’s not the first time journos have been spied on at work — in 2016 the UK’s Daily Telegraph installed heat and motion sensors at journalists’ desks in what the paper said was an attempt to record data to measure energy efficiency. After a BuzzFeed story was published, the devices were removed.

And it’s not just journalists who can be spied on by their bosses. Occupeye, the device used by the Telegraph, advertises itself as a solution to “streamline operations, creates efficiencies, enhance productivity and analyzes employee engagement (sic)”, and there are other similar sensors on the market for employers.

In Australia, the law around spying on employees varies from state-to-state, but as Crikey noted last year, legislation dealing with this in the digital age is incredibly outdated.

Should employers be permitted to spy on their employees? Let us know what you think by emailing boss@crikey.com.au.