Teams is apparently going to soon start offering location tracking, not just in buildings but also to identify people working outside of the office

[-]

Crenorz@reddit

lol, welcome to +20 years ago. IT has always had this ability, it is just a bit easier now. Everytime you log in or check anything online - I can see the IP, which I can look up to see where it is - and know about where you are. So not a new thing at all. That was +20 years ago Now, each program does this in better detail, so I have like +5 things telling me where people are, what they are doing - exactly (for anti virus reasons). SO the issue is not - can I, the issue is more - do I care. As in why spend time on things I don't give af about. The new thing - is just a reporting tool on that information that can be sent to management in an easy to read format.

Reply

[-]

Kodiak01@reddit (OP)

> The new thing - is just a reporting tool on that information that can be sent to management in an easy to read format. It won't be limited to IT or management. According to the article, ANYONE will be able to see it in real time. It's going to be baked into Teams right next to each person's name.

Reply

[-]

kable795@reddit

So it’s either going to show you in one of the offices setup by it or it’s going to show not in the office, what are you so afraid of? It’s not gonna say carols still in bed at 125 wallaby way.

Reply

[-]

Apart-Perspective364@reddit

Old comment, but as a remote worker, my home address is visible to anyone looking me up on Teams. Seems very dangerous.

Reply

[-]

narcissisadmin@reddit

P. Sherman at 42 Wallaby Way is very curious where his wife Carol spent the night.

Reply

[-]

mkosmo@reddit

I kind of wish it would. Might stop some of the before-I'm-online messages.

Reply

[-]

3percentinvisible@reddit

Ahem https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/office/lync-server-2013/lync-server-2013-configure-the-location-database

Reply

[-]

aaiceman@reddit

I’m comfortable with IT having that for security reasons. Using this information for policing where people are from a day to day management perspective is a very slippery slope.

Reply

[-]

Ok_Mood_4329@reddit

If you are doing your job, should not matter where you are located.

Reply

[-]

disposeable1200@reddit

You've completely misunderstood this It's just a revised version of the already existing network tracking that exists with new reporting on top So it's going to say which office an employee is in Or it's going to show they're not at an office And it's only going to work if the admins add the network info for each location to a network and setup the mapping to a site So please don't fear monger like the website you've linked - they don't understand it properly either, or they're just purposely click baiting

Reply

[-]

Ok_Can2549@reddit

Will it show the city? Like will my teams status tell my boss that im in Seattle at home or im in Hawaii on the beach, or will he have to ask admin? My guys are too lazy to ask but if the status shows the city name on teams they would notice

Reply

[-]

disposeable1200@reddit

Read it again

Reply

[-]

BoxerguyT89@reddit

Even their [source article](https://www.techradar.com/pro/watch-out-microsoft-teams-might-be-telling-your-bosses-when-youre-in-the-office-or-not) only has this to say about it: > The online collaboration platform has revealed it is working on a new feature which will automatically update a user's work location when they connect to an office Wi-Fi network.

Reply

[-]

a60v@reddit

And...what about users who aren't using wi-fi, and/or devices that only support wired connections?

Reply

[-]

BoxerguyT89@reddit

What about them?

Reply

[-]

ElPlatanaso2@reddit

I think they're asking if Teams will report based on network location. I asked myself the same.

Reply

[-]

MahoNata30@reddit

You're missing the point. Even though users have the "option" to opt-in, employers will likely require employees to opt-in to this feature. This should not be an option on Teams. The privacy and surveillance implications, in addition to who would have access to this data outside of the employer. Is it hackable? etc.

Reply

[-]

disposeable1200@reddit

Read it again. Its not exposing any new data Its not tracking people's private locations If you opt in and turn up at a company managed building - it shows you're in the building They can do this with cctv, door access or any one of a million other methods

Reply

[-]

MegaOddly@reddit

its being fear mongered everywhere else online now

Reply

[-]

Such_Reference_8186@reddit

Jabber has done this for awhile. Mostly due to 911 calling.

Reply

[-]

matt95110@reddit

I have seen what happens when E911 is fucked up and there is an emergency. Its not a joke.

Reply

[-]

narcissisadmin@reddit

Who doesn't have a phone in their pocket nowadays?

Reply

[-]

Redacted_Reason@reddit

Lot of places where you cannot have a cellphone inside of the work building

Reply

[-]

buzzy_buddy@reddit

this is something I've unfortunately never thought about, and probably why i'm not in charge of CUCM.

Reply

[-]

11CRT@reddit

You still have CUCM? Damn, our old vendor who used to sell us equipment told me they have a surplus since everyone moved away from hosting CallManager in house.

Reply

[-]

RememberCitadel@reddit

Cisco really wants everyone to hop on the more expensive cloud option, so they tell everyone that nobody uses on prem anymore. When I went to Cisco live I found piles of people still running it locally, and none of them were considering cloud for one reason only another. The biggest reasons being government contractors with no Internet access networks, and people who wanted the greatest local resiliency that isn't quite available with cloud. Also cost. The cloud version is more expensive if you already have suitable local infrastructure and talent.

Reply

[-]

Redacted_Reason@reddit

The largest network in the world uses CUCM. It's hilarious when people tell me it's completely gone

Reply

[-]

ISeeDeadPackets@reddit

WxC for us is actually cheaper than maintaining our BE6K+SIP service. Working on the migration right now, but yeah it just comes down to what makes the most sense for your specific circumstances.

Reply

[-]

11CRT@reddit

Talent. That’s the keyword. We had someone in house who knew cucm. We also had a vendor who could do it too. If CUCM had clear concise point and click controls, we might have kept it. But it was a mess of analog ports, unity server storage, etc that made it a dedicated job to maintain for onboarding and off boarding. They didn’t want to pay for an experienced Cisco person, let alone someone to back them up when they were out of the office.

Reply

[-]

RememberCitadel@reddit

The thing about CUCM is there are a million products out there that can automate it for relatively cheap. Obviously more expensive, but the real draw of CUCM is it can more than any other phone system, the downside is it's very complicated, and most people don't actually need half of what it can do. The could version is a decent compromise, but does lose a portion of that functionality.

Reply

[-]

BaconEatingChamp@reddit

We have CUCM on prem as well, though it has been like 10 years since they were sold on appliances - it's virtual only now. We love on prem since we are a 40+ site all directly connected school system and have a cluster spread across a couple sites with multiple ISPs and multiple SIP trunk providers. Losing a building, SIP trunk provider, or ISP isn't going to stop the calling.

Reply

[-]

HanSolo71@reddit

You run any informacast connected to CUCM?

Reply

[-]

BaconEatingChamp@reddit

Yes, just basic dialcast to broadcast live audio to groups of phones

Reply

[-]

HanSolo71@reddit

Ha, I work for Singlewire who makes that.

Reply

[-]

Malcorin@reddit

I used to broadcast fart noises on request. Your product was used responsibly by telephony admins everywhere.

Reply

[-]

Such_Reference_8186@reddit

In a public safety environment or high volume hospitals etc have not gone full off premise. You need to be able to still communicate with other endpoints when your ISP connectivity goes south..and it does happen

Reply

[-]

KingDaveRa@reddit

Still running CUCM - just. Going Teams voice imminently. Going to miss it though, all those knobs it has are great fun because you can do some fun stuff!

Reply

[-]

junkie-xl@reddit

Moved from CUCM to Teams for an org of <50 users was one of our better decisions.

Reply

[-]

TheJesusGuy@reddit

CUCKEM?

Reply

[-]

dtdubbydubz@reddit

I had a job where we used teams for our soft phones so this makes sense to me.

Reply

[-]

Scientist_ShadySide@reddit

Same reason this is being rolled out in my enterprise environment - moving to Teams for the phone solution and need location for 911 calling.

Reply

[-]

Such_Reference_8186@reddit

It can get very complex. I have a call center site staffed with medical triage nurses who sometimes make 911 calls for people they are on the phone with. It's a critical piece of the role out and the end user training can take some time

Reply

[-]

Scientist_ShadySide@reddit

That's an incredibly valuable use-case I had not heard yet. Though I'd think that the detected location of the caller would only be used if an address cannot be determined other ways, such as the caller on the phone?

Reply

[-]

3percentinvisible@reddit

In fact MS has done this for what, a decade? It was a feature of lync and I'd set it up so that it would identify the desk you were at if wired, and your most likely location (eg 'in meeting room 1') by wireless bssid , and 'remote' based on the vpn subnet. That went away with the move to cloud and subsequently teams, and rather spookily I only just checked yesterday with copilot 'has ms reintroduced...' The difference now is that the location reporting seems to be more about equipment your using (plugged into this monitor) than what segment of a network you're on. Apparently that's better but I can see that going massively astray as bits of kit get moved around or removed. BSSID is back for wireless though, so that's good. So yeah, for all those fear mongerers, it's nothing new, is opt in, and outside of an office is simply 'remote'

Reply

[-]

radicldreamer@reddit

Yeah this is required for E911

Reply

[-]

pedroah@reddit

Thank for the explanation. I was hoping it would be something like Glympse where I can share my GPS location if I'm going to some place so they have a better idea when I arrive.

Reply

[-]

nodiaque@reddit

Isn't that Microsoft places?

Reply

[-]

Thejeswar_Reddy@reddit

Admins having access is not a problem at all, it's the enabling of monkey managers who would harass employees is the problem. Now your manager can ask you "hey John why are you at X instead of Y"

Reply

[-]

CharlieModo@reddit

Is it not perfectly reasonable for your line manager to know which corporate office/branch you are working at today? For me, it makes no difference but I can see why this would be useful

Reply

[-]

11CRT@reddit

We are a single building business. Do you mean we could map our office network ports in teams? Or just identify which building they’re in based on their IP?

Reply

[-]

Syndic_Thrass@reddit

More likely register a CIDR as Office X and identify off that. I doubt you could go as granular as mapping the ports but even if you could... Why?

Reply

[-]

CharlieModo@reddit

You can be as broad as a CIDR range or as granular as switch ports if you want to. This is all already available inside Teams Admin, it is used for emergency locations now. We have 70 locations so it would be useful to see where someone physically is when talking to them on teams to be honest

Reply

[-]

SoylentVerdigris@reddit

It'd be great for Helpdesk tracking down morons reporting an issue then dropping off the radar for days until they feel like complaining about their issue not being resolved.

Reply

[-]

chesser45@reddit

AFAIK there is no capability for internal up tracking that would be glorious. You are entirely dependent on mapping via desk and docking stations or other peripherals.

Reply

[-]

Dal90@reddit

911 phone calls.

Reply

[-]

11CRT@reddit

We have hotdesks setup. It would be nice to see automatically where someone is in the office.

Reply

[-]

Syndic_Thrass@reddit

Ahh fair enough, well buddy says teams has you covered! Not a use case I deal with so didn't even consider that!

Reply

[-]

disposeable1200@reddit

There is automatic hot desk usage tracking in teams You just inventory each monitor / dock / etc at each desk and it'll do bookings including auto bookings and usage reports

Reply

[-]

AdmMonkey@reddit

For 911 with Teams calling we done by AP localization. We have mapped what AP are in what building and if someone call 911 the location will be given.

Reply

[-]

falconsontop@reddit

Yes you can do this down to the switch, port, or even AP BSSID. Also CIDR regions. Dig into the emergency locations in Teams Admin Center and you'll find the settings. If you're office network is layed out in a nice way you can map everything. I had to do this for E911 as well.

Reply

[-]

Turak64@reddit

I remember actually looking for this as a feature, cause it'll be super handy. Got a lot of people wfh recently, so it'll work wonders when tying to book meetings etc. You're right about the rage/click bait headlines though. Sadly that's all of the majority of people will see about this... Luckily this only happens to trivial thing a like MS Teams and not actual important stuff... Right?

Reply

[-]

UISystemError@reddit

Managed devices are bundled with MDM software capable of performing indoor WiFi tracking anyway. Organisations don’t need Teams to achieve this.

Reply

[-]

slxlucida@reddit

Not to mention this is something that's needed in some instances. The last company I worked for switched to Teams for voice calling and we had to spend some time deciding how to handle 911 calls to make sure they got the right address.

Reply

[-]

dustojnikhummer@reddit

So it's for branches, not WfH?

Reply

[-]

disposeable1200@reddit

It'll show "remote" or "in office x" And you as the admin have to give it the per office info And the user has to opt in

Reply

[-]

chesser45@reddit

It also OPT IN. Like even if we turn it on as admins, we can’t force you to opt in.

Reply

[-]

yaminub@reddit

This is going to be pretty useful for me, even if it just saves a few clicks going into one of many separate applications that would tell me where a device/employee is.

Reply

[-]

carl5473@reddit

> So please don't fear monger like the website you've linked - they don't understand it properly either, or they're just purposely click baiting Yes they are considering they reference the roadmap update and quote the part saying it will automatically set the location based on where they are working, but exclude the part that it is off by default and end users need to opt in. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/roadmap?searchterms=488800 Definitely click bait.

Reply

[-]

ApprehensiveSpeechs@reddit

They purposefully clickbait. I have never read a good article from them on any MS service.

Reply

[-]

Smooth_North_6722@reddit

I think the wording is not correct. I thought it meant they know your exact location. But is most to track if youre in office or not.

Reply

[-]

Classic_Reach4670@reddit

You can just run Teams on a desktop in the office, and RDP into it. Problem solved.

Reply

[-]

nitetrain8601@reddit

Not every person has access to a VD or extra machine to remote into. Heck not everyone has remote capabilities. This whole idea is to stop coffee badging. I’ve worked on setting this up for Microsoft Places and it must not work great since they’ve pushed it back 2 times already. It uses the WiFi BSSID to show where you are at. Right now they can already do this based on the work station you dock at but it requires registering each dock.

Reply

[-]

YoungParking9672@reddit

finally a good post. it's scary reading some of these posts from people in the industry bragging about how many years they've been in that don't understand what the change is

Reply

[-]

Kodiak01@reddit (OP)

And if GP blocks RDP by non-admins?

Reply

[-]

narcissisadmin@reddit

Does GP also manage the Remote Desktop Users group?

Reply

[-]

nominal_fees@reddit

RustDesk

Reply

[-]

sys_admin321@reddit

Try that at a company that prevents users from installing their own software. That type of software may also be against policy even for users that have rights to install their own software.

Reply

[-]

sirace100@reddit

How does this work when you access work via remote desktop, and have Teams on four devices? 1 desk phone in office. Remote desktop Teams (office), mobile Teams, work laptop (home)? Which location does it use?

Reply

[-]

viajealmundo@reddit

Honestly good point. I have my primary computer up all of the time, if I wander away I will use my phone, etc—I jump between multiple devices and networks frequently. Is it going to look like I'm all over creation?

Reply

[-]

OneSeaworthiness7768@reddit

>particularly with the subset of remote users who pretend to be working from one location but are actually nowhere even close to where they should be. If they’re remote why don’t care where they’re working from?

Reply

[-]

uptimefordays@reddit

Tax implications of saying you’re a remote worker in say Delaware but you’re actually living in Portugal.

Reply

[-]

gib_me_gold@reddit

Huh?

Reply

[-]

uptimefordays@reddit

Some remote workers list their address as one place but then live somewhere else which has tax implications for companies and individuals.

Reply

[-]

Adventurous-Set-4832@reddit

What specific tax implications do you mean? Also, how will it be a problem for the company if an employee for example is a person with dual citizenship for example Chinese and Indonesian Citizenship, now born and raised in China, have a legal property in China, but decided to live with his/her parents in Indonesia, while being employed by a company based in China?

Reply

[-]

uptimefordays@reddit

US employers care very much about adhering to local tax and labor laws. The costs or benefits can also vary depending on where someone lives. So if an employee says “I live here” but actually lives somewhere else, that can cause compliance problems for their employer.

Reply

[-]

gib_me_gold@reddit

It's not the companys issue.

Reply

[-]

ThinkMarket7640@reddit

It absolutely is the organization’s problem. Why are so confidently commenting on topics you clearly don’t know anything about?

Reply

[-]

gib_me_gold@reddit

Because in any civilized country it's up to the employee to provide actual data in this regard? Dunno how it is in muttland but over here the employee will be held up accountable if something goes wrong.

Reply

[-]

uptimefordays@reddit

An organization’s tax liabilities are absolutely company issues.

Reply

[-]

thortgot@reddit

Thats not thr granularity this feature is providing. IT admins can already see that through credentialing.

Reply

[-]

uptimefordays@reddit

I’m aware, I was just commenting on “why might an employer care where remote workers are working.”

Reply

[-]

Kerlyle@reddit

K, but is that really specific to WFH? Isn't that more of a legal and contractual issue with the employee? I could easily live in Washington, Michigan, New York etc. and commute across the border and live in Canada. Just trying to understand what issue is solved by this feature that wouldn't become very evident at tax time.

Reply

[-]

uptimefordays@reddit

Again, my comment has nothing to do with the Teams feature lol.

Reply

[-]

Andrew_Waltfeld@reddit

That would already be locked down though conditional access policies on the IT side. Unless they got added to an bypass group for traveling for work, that wouldn't work.

Reply

[-]

uptimefordays@reddit

Yes and no, not every organization locks that down. Again, I'm not speaking to Teams specifically so much as answering someone's question which was "if a worker is remote, why do you care where they're working from."

Reply

[-]

Andrew_Waltfeld@reddit

Then they got bigger things to be worrying about. Your point about the legal is fine... but misses the broad strokes by not having such policies in place. It means some Russian or Chinese hacker could get into your account and basically transfer everything off of their OneDrive or whatever or do a cyber attack. Legal is going to be the least of your worries.

Reply

[-]

uptimefordays@reddit

I mean, yeah *I* would definitely ensure some kind of access policies are in place to restrict access from "places we don't do business." However, for those of us who work at large MNCs, we've got global offices. My employer has major offices in both mainland China and Russia because we like to have a bad time. For those of us who work remote though, we still have a home address and locality for which we're paying taxes. It isn't super uncommon for people with remote jobs to work while traveling but there are folks who were say California based who moved to Portugal during the Pandemic and have just been working out of AirBnbs for the last 5 years. Those people are a major pain in HR, legal, and accounting's asses because they pay taxes someplace they're not technically living--which isn't IT's problem.

Reply

[-]

traumalt@reddit

Tax, labour/employment, data export compliance, visa laws just to name a few.

Reply

[-]

Wartz@reddit

Windows central is a garbage dump these days. Please do not reference it.

Reply

[-]

TellMotor3809@reddit

So I should not answer teams messages on my mobile as I may not be home. Got it.

Reply

[-]

HCITGuy99999@reddit

And this is why I NEVER put business apps on my personal phone. If they want me on Teams on a phone they can buy me one.

Reply

[-]

staze@reddit

I look forward to seeing how they’re going to bypass TCC on the Mac. WiFi network is now “privileged” info, like location.

Reply

[-]

jonesiscoding@reddit

To be honest, this isn’t much of a change for any business using O365, M365 or some other flavor of Entra ID login. Login locations (approximated by IP have been available in the form of a daily login report for quite some time.

Reply

[-]

CapitalElk8347@reddit

Hold my beer to setup site-to-site VPN. UDM at home, UDM with me.

Reply

[-]

wutanglan90@reddit

Errr, okay, so what? Anyone who has access to the Teams admin portal can already see where someone is. Anyone who has access to the RMM tool that the work machine is enrolled to can see where someone is. Anyone who has access to... I'll stop here but you can see where people are located based on what subnet they're on and what SSID they're connected to (if on WiFi).

Reply

[-]

MDL1983@reddit

Managers don't normally have access to admin centers, fool. This puts location info into the hands of those who need it most.

Reply

[-]

VA_Network_Nerd@reddit

Sorry, it seems this comment or thread has violated a sub-reddit rule and has been removed by a moderator. **Community Members Shall Conduct Themselves With Professionalism.** * This is a Community of Professionals, for Professionals. * Please treat community members politely - even when you disagree. * No personal attacks - debate issues, challenge sources - but don't make or take things personally. * No posts that are entirely memes or AdviceAnimals or Kitty GIFs. * Please try and keep politically charged messages out of discussions. * Intentionally trolling is considered impolite, and will be acted against. * The acts of Software Piracy, Hardware Theft, and Cheating are considered unprofessional, and posts requesting aid in committing such acts shall be removed. ----- *If you wish to appeal this action please don't hesitate to [message the moderation team](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fsysadmin).*

Reply

[-]

Connolly91@reddit

I find myself convincing people of my positions a lot easier when I don't resort to name calling.

Reply

[-]

MDL1983@reddit

Good for you. Sometimes it's well-earned.

Reply

[-]

GrumpyToad-69@reddit

Not really, that says more about you than them. Perhaps their companies does allow managers access for whatever reason.

Reply

[-]

VenomousWarthog@reddit

People commenting on things that show they clearly did not read the article is most definitely foolish.

Reply

[-]

MDL1983@reddit

🤷‍♂️sounds ideal

Reply

[-]

GoonOfAllGoons@reddit

Thank you for your feedback, Mr. T. I loved you in Rocky 3.

Reply

[-]

MDL1983@reddit

🤣 no worries 👍

Reply

[-]

Kodiak01@reddit (OP)

It's not going to be limited to admins, though. >The feature is poised to reduce confusion at the workplace, allowing managers and employees to identify each other's location in the office. According to the Microsoft 365 roadmap post announcing the new feature, "when users connect to their organization's Wi-Fi, Teams will automatically set their work location to reflect the building they are working in." >To that end, the feature is still in the development phase, but it is expected to ship to broad availability later in December 2025. It's not yet clear what advantage this feature will serve. >It can be a productivity booster, meaning you'll no longer have to manually look for your counterparts at the office or even give them a call; you can easily pinpoint their location via Teams as long as they are connected to the office's Wi-Fi network. >On the other hand, it can also be used to identify who's not working from the office. This news comes after many organizations are rapidly ditching work-from-home and hybrid work arrangements.

Reply

[-]

disposeable1200@reddit

...I look up from my desk and I can see who's not in the office with me? Get out of here

Reply

[-]

chesser45@reddit

Middle managers want to know your location. People that work in companies with a distributed campus. Maybe if you work from a single floor small building?

Reply

[-]

disposeable1200@reddit

Then I'd just assume they're in it?

Reply

[-]

chesser45@reddit

Idk man seems like it’s not the feature for you then, and that’s fine, it’s optional.

Reply

[-]

chesser45@reddit

It’s opt in. It’s not enforced, and if you are lying about where you are working from… who is in the wrong?

Reply

[-]

ziobrop@reddit

this exists now for 911 purposes, and i for one think it would be handy to see if someone is in the office, or not. there a many other tools that can be used to tell if your in the office or not - if that was an issue, im sure management would be pulling the door controller logs, since those would be definitive.

Reply

[-]

Jarasmut@reddit

In every workplace so far I plug into ethernet at my desk and at home I do the same. I don't even have the wireless adapter turned on at all as it's my work device that I only use when I'm on the clock sitting at my desk. I am sure there are small businesses that only use Wifi but in mixed use how is this going to be reliable at all? Half the people prefer to use their own computer so they log in through Citrix and Teams runs on some virtual infrastructure. This features would need to account for all possible scenarios. Teams is already a hot mess now like it randomly switches my status to away as I am literally typing, and the taskbar color in the Teams icon is wrong half the time showing a red dot literally in the middle of the night as my status is set to away. Or the status dot in the taskbar simply disappears completely and I don't see if there are any messages waiting until I open the main window. So when I read that this feature will reduce confusion this seems like a joke. How will Teams tell if someone is working remotely or merely on lunch break with the laptop lid closed? What will it say when the employee Wifi has bad reception in a meeting room where I just use the guest Wifi with Citrix instead? Good luck!

Reply

[-]

booboothechicken@reddit

Sounds like a co-worker stalkers wet dream.

Reply

[-]

Kodiak01@reddit (OP)

That worry popped up in my head as well, especially in some of the more... dramatic workplaces.

Reply

[-]

ExceptionEX@reddit

Do you often find yourself saying you are in the office and not actually going. It can already see who is joining the Wi-Fi by device. This isn't geofencing, or anything else, so if you normally don't join the office wifi it won't even effect you. I think you are fear mongering over something that if they wanted to track they already could.

Reply

[-]

night_filter@reddit

Also, if you’re signing into O365 at all, the admin can see what IP address you’re coming from. It’s not too hard to come up with location information from that.

Reply

[-]

gcbeehler5@reddit

Adding to this, we use Teams as our telephone system, and so we have an e911 module installed, that shows your address in Teams as it is now.

Reply

[-]

Jayskerdoo@reddit

I RDP into my work machine 100% of the time.

Reply

[-]

Desol_8@reddit

You can already tell where users log in from with the entra logs or intune

Reply

[-]

Wise_Wafer_6762@reddit

Tracking people like this is an infringement of privacy lol idt it’s real

Reply

[-]

stephenph@reddit

hada coworker setup a script that auto entered his time on his time sheet. it was working great till he wound up in the hospital for a week. His time card script dutifully added his time all week as working in the office lol

Reply

[-]

attcust@reddit

A bit unrelated to this teams discussion but intrigued PowerShell? And was saving in xls?

Reply

[-]

stephenph@reddit

it was directly editing a user screen. basically it would call up the url and programmatically fill in the fields and sent a post, it was a mozilla? extension. I honestly do not remember the name of the tool. back then you could do all sorts of stuff with web pages on the client side In my mind at least it was just a funny story about software locating a person.and using that against them. in this case he was definitely not at work but still entered his time.

Reply

[-]

mksolid@reddit

If you use Entra ID with anything above the bare minimum package you can also see sign in logs by location without this feature. Additionally, any respectable corporate environment using Entra ID and 365 is going to have Conditional Access tightly enabled which leverages the devices location data to track whereabouts and unsafe countries etc This just makes it more immediately visible

Reply

[-]

silentstorm2008@reddit

Cant you just set your location manually?

Reply

[-]

Kodiak01@reddit (OP)

It doesn't appear so, according to the article it will track and report based on your wifi/network connection.

Reply

[-]

SmiteHorn@reddit

My father in law uses an always on VPN because he works in a state but moved without notifying them.

Reply

[-]

narcissisadmin@reddit

Hopefully they don't mail anything to him. Yikes.

Reply

[-]

SevaraB@reddit

He is aware that’s fraud, right? His employers are withholding taxes and sending them to the wrong state now, not to mention his pay stubs are “proof of address” for a place he doesn’t live at anymore…

Reply

[-]

CantankerousCretin@reddit

Hope dad is a snowbird, cause otherwise he'll have some tax issues coming up. Never mess around with the IRS if you can help yourself

Reply

[-]

OSUTechie@reddit

Not even the [Joker is crazy enough to mess with the IRS](https://youtu.be/G56VgsLfKY4)

Reply

[-]

SpeculationMaster@reddit

i got that set up at hardware level (not an app installed on device). Two Ubiquiti devices connected to each other.

Reply

[-]

aaiceman@reddit

As a few others have said, there is some possible tax implications here. Not your circus, not your monkeys, but don’t get financially entangled with this act in any way.

Reply

[-]

VexingRaven@reddit

This article is clickbait fearmongering, as a sysadmin you need to understand that 99% of tech journalism about the stuff we do is just garbage and how to recognize it.

Reply

[-]

Quattuor@reddit

Lol, like the employer doesn't already know whether you are connecting to the office WiFi and exactly which of the AP you are connecting too. This article is FUD and is talking about this feature https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/places/configure-auto-detect-work-location#enable-automatic-detection-of-location-via-connection-to-a-wireless-network

Reply

[-]

grrhss@reddit

It’s already easy to track if employees are in the office by IP. Your VPN does split tunneling and employers can figure out by DNS where you’re connecting from.

Reply

[-]

lemon_tea@reddit

So...what happens if I establish a small wifi network at home that has the same name and password?

Reply

[-]

regexreggae@reddit

password shouldnt even matter. only name --> SSID. However if BSSID is also configured, this will, of course, differ from the ones used in the company. The BSSID can be used to auto-detect the building (if configured) [Configure automatic detection of work location in Microsoft Teams - Microsoft Places | Microsoft Learn](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/places/configure-auto-detect-work-location)

Reply

[-]

Ok_Conclusion5966@reddit

logs already reveal this information, the frontend application likely has a feature to parse them into nice dashboards fun fact, it shows the exact time you connected, how long you connected and when you disconnect the ip will show the general area you connected from, many people are caught lying and are 'let go' by this method, especially when they take a holiday and continue working ;) non regulated companies with shitty IT teams don't give a crap or know how to look this information up, large orgs know how to use and leverage the information should they investigate an employee or have policies based on geographic and device access/logins

Reply

[-]

ImpossibleLeague9091@reddit

You guys connect your phones to your works WiFi?

Reply

[-]

im-tv@reddit

Definitely, but then OpenVPN to home router.

Reply

[-]

TheMartok@reddit

Shits been in play for years

Reply

[-]

Known_Experience_794@reddit

We don’t use Teams for phone so we disable location services on all systems. It otherwise just produces telemetry for Microsoft to use and sell and also useless network chatter.

Reply

[-]

i8noodles@reddit

this would be illegal in some countries. im not worried because i live on one of thoese countries

Reply

[-]

2Saltyfortheinternet@reddit

Beyond repulsive.

Reply

[-]

c_pardue@reddit

it's a precursor to whatever SASE solution they're cooking up

Reply

[-]

Zkrslmn_@reddit

I don't know what are you discussing, we are already reviewing 100% of our ip traffic on work from shady locations, VPS/ Data centers, etc. People who say "I work from home in Austin" are expected to connect from Austin landline provider or mobile. If they are in Thailand and try to connect to us from US VPN - we catch and fire those. If any company wants to track it - it is possible now, no issue.

Reply

[-]

a60v@reddit

But they could route their traffic through a machine in someone's home in Austin.

Reply

[-]

Zkrslmn_@reddit

Yes, but there are mdms on laptops and mobile devices, also people can't maintain spy mode and work productively for long.

Reply

[-]

ADAMSMASHRR@reddit

RDP to PC and use Teams in a browser

Reply

[-]

SDS_PAGE@reddit

Maybe don’t work at a place that functions on petty distrust. People leave bad management.

Reply

[-]

PsyOmega@reddit

If those managers could read, they'd be mad at you.

Reply

[-]

Slasher1738@reddit

Nope.

Reply

[-]

TechPir8@reddit

I will just keep on saying it. Teams is a virus.

Reply

[-]

mixduptransistor@reddit

this is not new, just exposing data that Teams already has. I think this is not intended to be a tool for tracking people to micromanage, but truly to help especially at larger companies where people are Think about how the Microsoft campus works, there are a dozen buildings with cafes and parks and hotel space. If you need to go see Bob, you can just know where he is at that point in time There are other better tools for micromanaging employees for bad managers to use Plus, you can turn all of this off if you want, it's not required

Reply

[-]

Kodiak01@reddit (OP)

> think this is not intended to be a tool for tracking people to micromanage But because the ability will be there, some WILL use it in that way.

Reply

[-]

bfodder@reddit

Anyone wanting to use it that way can already do so 15 other ways.

Reply

[-]

mixduptransistor@reddit

Sure, but that ability is already there. And let me tell you about sign-in logs and network locations in Entra ID and the ability to correlate that data to see who is in the office or not

Reply

[-]

PurpleFlerpy@reddit

Knowing how bad the geolocation for Entra is and how executives tend to believe everything they see, this is only going to end badly.

Reply

[-]

VTOLfreak@reddit

Put up a VPN exit node/endpoint at home and just connect back home from whatever beach resort you are really at. Tailscale and ZeroTier are great for this. Tunnel all your traffic through it and Teams won't be able to tell the difference. I have a travel router that does this. I can take it with me and when I connect my laptop to it, all traffic is relayed through my home internet connection. No VPN software needed on the laptop itself. As far as the laptop knows. it's at my house, connected to my home WiFi. If your laptop has a GPS or 4G/5G module inside it, you might want to disable it as it may still pick up on the real location of the device. But my employer doesn't care where I'm remoting in from, my manager even suggested to go on trips and take my work laptop with me. Provided I get my work done and remain available during office hours, they don't care where I'm working from.

Reply

[-]

sys_admin321@reddit

That's fine but doesn't the endpoint device need a Tailscale client to be installed? That can easily get flagged at larger corporations.

Reply

[-]

VTOLfreak@reddit

I'm using a GL-iNet travel router. It supports Tailscale running on the router itself. The laptop doesn't need a client because the router sends all client traffic into the Tailscale tunnel.

Reply

[-]

sys_admin321@reddit

Oh that sounds interesting! So you can connect that travel router to say a public wireless network?

Reply

[-]

VTOLfreak@reddit

That's exactly what these things are meant for, to connect to an unsecure network. (hotel wifi for example) And it then creates a new secure WiFi network that you can use for your own devices. It also takes care of tunneling your traffic over VPN if you want to. This is the one I'm using: https://www.gl-inet.com/products/gl-mt3000/ Not the fastest model they have but the VPN performance is better than most crappy hotel WiFi.

Reply

[-]

sys_admin321@reddit

Thank you so much! Can it accommodate a captive portal from a hotel network?

Reply

[-]

VTOLfreak@reddit

Yes, it can do that too: [https://docs.gl-inet.com/router/en/4/faq/connect\_to\_a\_hotspot\_with\_captive\_portal/](https://docs.gl-inet.com/router/en/4/faq/connect_to_a_hotspot_with_captive_portal/)

Reply

[-]

sys_admin321@reddit

Thank you! Now I'm reading how to set this up remotely and have devices that are connected to it appear as if they are on my home network. Really neat device, thanks again for sharing.

Reply

[-]

Pusibule@reddit

Use a cheap microtik or ubiquiti router to start the ipsec vpn and deliver it as a regular network connection to your laptop. Or probably, use your mobile to start the vpn and share it throught wifi to your laptop.

Reply

[-]

3dickdog@reddit

Are you using Teams Telephony? If yes, then it probably has something to do with 911.

Reply

[-]

-rwsr-xr-x@reddit

It's 2025; what is an "office"? The place where I work, is my choice. If my work gets done and I'm meeting my commitments, why does where I meet those commitments matter, as long as it's not jeopardizing company data security?

Reply

[-]

ludlology@reddit

If you're paranoid about this, it was already possible for years with source IPs on login logs

Reply

[-]

brokenmcnugget@reddit

uninstall Teams. Live happier.

Reply

[-]

IndependentPumpkin74@reddit

Cool, now if they could bring back the ability to copy chats including time stamps, that would be super awesome!

Reply

[-]

aaiceman@reddit

I know, right!!! I gotta copy conversation to internal notes on tickets and it copies with pure ass formatting.

Reply

[-]

IndependentPumpkin74@reddit

Then you gotta bring it to your manager and they ask "who gave you authorization?" It was them, and there no way to add it to the ticket!

Reply

[-]

aaiceman@reddit

Oof, this feel like it has happened to you once or twice.

Reply

[-]

IndependentPumpkin74@reddit

I started writing the ticket number right next to their responses in teams so I can jump to the spot in the chat when needed. It's a shittynworkaround, but it's a workaround.

Reply

[-]

DivideByZero666@reddit

Great, so not only does it snitch on me when I go take a shit (away status), but it'll also snitch when I log in on the holiday beach soon. The bastards.

Reply

[-]

leoingle@reddit

They can already do that by your work cell phone. So what does it matter?

Reply

[-]

itiscodeman@reddit

It’s okay if your not an important person or a baaaad person

Reply

[-]

Lammtarra95@reddit

>*based on your connection to the office's Wi-Fi network* What's the point? Teams will report if you are in the building or not, and whereabouts in the building you are. Who cares? Is losing colleagues in the office a big problem in the age of hot-desking?

Reply

[-]

3percentinvisible@reddit

Yes

Reply

[-]

ogn3rd@reddit

Microsoft tripping over themselves to rush in corporate fascism.

Reply

[-]

3percentinvisible@reddit

It's one of the slowest 'rushes' I've seen for a while https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/office/lync-server-2013/lync-server-2013-configure-the-location-database

Reply

[-]

iLikecheesegrilled@reddit

Just don’t connect to the WiFi and you’ll always be remote

Reply

[-]

3percentinvisible@reddit

Or the dock, or the monitor, or the....

Reply

[-]

iLikecheesegrilled@reddit

just uninstall teams and use the webversion

Reply

[-]

Kindly_Revert@reddit

https://preview.redd.it/oulsltg1s2xf1.jpeg?width=797&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b056e862f0d4b7da7669f26b84969619d2278b46

Reply

[-]

traumalt@reddit

You say it like it's a bad thing? There is plenty of reasons why a company doesn't want their employees working from whenever, and it isn't just because of some RTO mandates. You can't just work remote from Bali or whenever without legal consequences.

Reply

[-]

sys_admin321@reddit

This. If you're home address is in say Florida and you work remotely in Florida but occasionally from other locations that's fine. If all of sudden you are in different states, and especially different countries, then that is likely an issue and may be flagged.

Reply

[-]

No_Investigator3369@reddit

Comet KVM for the win. I'll leave the laptop at home.

Reply

[-]

sys_admin321@reddit

As others have said this for on site location identification. If you work remotely most companies don't care where you work remotely from, some may care that it's within the same state as you're home address but that's about it.

Reply

[-]

Ziegelphilie@reddit

> Sitting here wondering just what kind of fallout this is going to engender none

Reply

[-]

natflingdull@reddit

I don’t see a problem with this. Its a little silly to be up in arms about if you have ever managed M365: Entra has geo tracking by sign in, if you’re using Entra admins/your boss has the ability to know where you’re using any aspect of the tenancy. Unfortunately, that means that if Teams is on your personal phone and you access it at any time, that means your IT department is going to be able to get a rough idea of where you are. Im an advocate of privacy and Im opposed to company surveillance of users, I rarely have “hard no”s when it comes to being an admin, but managing and/or deploying surveillance “productivity trackers” and the like is not something I will ever agree to do. However, if you’re accessing privileged information that your company is legally required to safeguard, the company has a right to know when and where you’re doing it.

Reply

[-]

fulltilte@reddit

Fear mongering bullshit in a technical sub, gtfo :)

Reply

[-]

emrcreate@reddit

Everyone keeps saying oh your location already available but.. is this going add James Madison is online and on "location" lmao

Reply

[-]

TheFumingatzor@reddit

>particularly with the subset of remote users who pretend to be working from one location but are actually nowhere even close to where they should be And that's a bad thing, because...?

Reply

[-]

jwrig@reddit

If you're using the Microsoft stack, there are multiple ways to see your location without relying on this, to say nothing of the dozen other ways. The features themselves are not nefarious, sometimes required depending on your industry. What makes the difference is how the leadership of the company wants you to use the location tracking.

Reply

[-]

vondur@reddit

We use Teams voice and it reports location information for any emergency calls via 911. Not sure if its a Federal or State law here in the US.

Reply

[-]

jwrig@reddit

Federal law.

Reply

[-]

OwenWilsons_Nose@reddit

Everywhere I’ve worked at had at least three pieces of software that reports location. Webex, teams, thousandeyes, jamf mdm/entra ID, various EDR agents etc.

Reply

[-]

gib_me_gold@reddit

What's the issue with people not being at home when working remote?

Reply

[-]

Ssakaa@reddit

Depending on the extent of "not at home", there can be *real* tax/legal implications of working cross-border, whether state or country boundaries. Even just single/two party consent states for recording is enough to cause issues, let alone tax implications of working various places, and visa implications when crossing country borders and working. Duration can shift a lot of those things one way or the other too, i.e. working a day while travelling isn't going to, usually, get too much attention, but working from your airbnb for two months can.

Reply

[-]

squatfarts@reddit

Teams has always been able to do this. You can setup IP ranges and it will add a little tooltip under your name where your located.

Reply

[-]

Fallingdamage@reddit

You guys still have location information enabled for your PCs and mobile devices. We had that off by policy for years at this point.

Reply

[-]

idgarad@reddit

You mean like the VPN logs they already have?

Reply

[-]

taterthotsalad@reddit

You have a doomer mentality OP.

Reply

[-]

severalthingsright@reddit

Isn't that location info already available from sign-in logs in both the Admin Portal and Entra ID? Most orgs concerned about this should already have conditional access policies in place to control where users can log in from.

Reply

[-]

peace991@reddit

We already have that sort of functionality with Barracuda and Intune does track user login location. Then only time we really care is if MS or Barracuda flags the login from a suspicious IP address. What I’m getting really is remote work for us as we see it, is remote work. As long as the team member produces what’s expected, we don’t really care where you’re at. We’ve let go of quite a lot of folks and not a single one because they are in Hawaii rather than Atlanta.

Reply

[-]

regexreggae@reddit

Wow, what a coincidence - just logged in to Reddit to see if I could see any post on the Teams automatic detection of location feature, and then I bump into this one right away :) Now, apart from how one should evaluate this - has anyone achieved getting the WIFI variant of this to work? I've invested quite some time setting up rooms, SSIDs, BSSIDs, and mappings...everything according to the [official documentation](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/places/configure-auto-detect-work-location). I know the detection based on WIFI is still in preview, however, it should work in principle already, shouldn't it? But I can't get it to overwrite the location as configured in Outlook on the web / working hours location. Tried logging off and back in again in Teams, switching WiFi back and forth, and so on. All my location settings are correct- everything is allowed (both on the OS level and the application level). Any hints? I can provide more detail if required, of course.

Reply

[-]

fatalicus@reddit

>By default, users are opted out of work location detection. Users are prompted to provide consent for automatic location detection in the Teams desktop client on Windows or macOS. **It is not possible for admins to consent on users' behalf.** https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/places/configure-auto-detect-work-location I honestly do not see the problem with this. For admins, this is informatino we allready have (through whatever wifi management tool we use, or sign in logs etc.), and as the info above here indicate, it is up to the individual user on wether this will reflect in teams itself, so if they don't want teams to update location it won't.

Reply

[-]

Acceptable_Wind_1792@reddit

or you can just name your home wifi the name as work and no one will know

Reply

[-]

grathungar@reddit

I feel like the feature is coming far too late for it to be impactful Most of the people who are anti wfh have already won and forced everyone back in office, and the people who are fine with remote work do not care where you're working from as long as the work is getting done. If a company has remote employees and actually cares about this, they likely already have systems in place to report on this data.

Reply

[-]

ExceptionEX@reddit

Yeah I mean literally looking at someone's IP to tell where they are is pretty basic. Not sure this will make any significant impact.

Reply

[-]

Geminii27@reddit

This is why you have a home router forwarding packets to wherever you're remoting in from today. And, presumably, some method that prevents corporate laptops from detecting nearby WiFi or blabbing about what network it's plugged into.

Reply

[-]

bluegrassgazer@reddit

I've never understood (and taken advantage of) how Teams doesn't even show whether somebody is on mobile or a computer when on a meeting. Webex has done this for years. Now MS is going to leapfrog this and show when you're in the office or not.

Reply

Reply to Post

226 Comments