Ever notice that tiny little eye just above your laptop screen? That’s called a web cam, and these days it can be employed to do some pretty dirty work.

Take this example: oDesk. Basically it’s a service that hooks clients up with service providers, and helps clients make sure they’re getting their money’s worth by spying on the service providers while they work.

As a freelance writer, I find this pretty alarming. One of the reasons I started freelancing was actually to get away from micromanaging, control freak bosses! I don’t want someone checking in on me while I work, no way. That’s why I negotiate a per-project fee — if I slack off, I want it to be on my dime, not the client’s, so that there is no reason for them to get all huffy about it.

There are much better ways to use the Internet to keep track of people. Rather than spying on someone via their web cam, you could use group management software to keep in touch with all of your freelancers: keep their contact info handy, maintain a shared calender, automatically remind them of deadlines, and so on. Databases and writer logins are fine with me too — but tell me you’re going to snap pictures of me with my web cam occasionally to be sure I’m working, and I’ll run screaming in the other direction!

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