>I don't agree with this statement. Your employer owns the phone on your 
>desk but they don't have the right to listen to, or record your 
>calls without your knowledge or in most cases consent.

This demonstrates what happens when someone selectively reads a post and
then elects to respond to the portions they failed to read.  in the quoted
text of the original post, it clearly stated 

"...by continuing to use
this system you indicate your awareness of and consent to these terms and
conditions of use. LOG OFF IMMEDIATELY if you do not agree to the conditions
stated in this warning..."

Which indicates anything being done is not done without an employee's
knowledge, especially since after reading this you have to select  "Agree"
or "Do Not Agree" to log on.  And most organizations DO have employee policy
and practices manuals and they include information regarding the use of
computer systems AND telephones for personal use during business hours. 
Excessive use of any of these services for non-business purposes is a drain
on productivity and an unnecessary expense that businesses seek to control.

>The reason that things are the way they are right now is that companies are
>too cheap to train up young people and would rather keep paying the skilled
>baby boomers to hang around for as long as humanly possible.
>
>At some point the baby boomers will have to retire and they will be 
>replaced by a proportionately smaller pool of young people.

Ummm yeah, right... this is why companies keep skilled workers, NOT because
they are ... skilled... ????  And how is it the same quality and volume of
work will be done by this "smaller pool of young people" until they are also
skilled?  IT will require the existing staff to train them, but there is no
automatic expectation that they will be more efficient.  May be true in
cases of manual labor, but not in all other cases.  In the case of most
knowledge workers, there is an inherent set of skills and abilities that are
honed over long periods of time and these types of skills in many cases
can't be taught, it takes "time in grade" to obtain them.

>These young people will have high expectations of technology and the
>leverage to demand that they be given access to everything from smart 
>phones to Facebook (or whatever is the craze at that point) just 
>to consider sharing their expertise with the employer.

And they will be allowed to check their expectations at the door if a
company finds them to be out of sync with the way they do business, or the
rules that are required to abide by.  Case in point? The financial services
industry.  Certain types of transactions cannot be made unless they can be
US Federal Agency or as a Contractor to a Federal Agency.  36CFR Part 1234
is VERY CLEAR on what the requirements are in this case.

I don't know what leverage you think they will have when they are coming
into jobs with limited experience and seeking remuneration. Expertise? The
definition of expetise is 'having the skills of an expert...' the definition
of expert? '...having, involving, or displaying special skill or knowledge
derived from training or experience...'  The training will be received on
the job as will the experience.

>The demise of the baby boomers will signal a huge shift in how the world
>works, and when it happens it will happen quickly.

Many of these future skilled workers are presently delivering pizzas, asking
if you'd like fries with that, or asking customers to make the tough choice
between paper or plastic. And some of them are also in school learning
trades, or becoming otherwise educated, but they are not being absorbed into
the workforce rapidly in positions where they can leverage their mad skills
to demand that organizations bow to their expertise.

>In Australia it is common to see police officers SMSing from their own
>personal phones whilst on duty. One day you won't even be surprised to see
>the guy collecting your trash with a blackberry.

Yep, PDAs and lattes have replaced the donut and coffee for many public
service officers, and not too long a go in Southern California a skilled
train operator was seen SMSing while at work as well... 
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/19/us/19crash.html of course the outcome of
that was 25 dead and 130 injured.  Bet that's an organization that won't be
allowing skilled young people to leverage their demands for access to
technology.  As for my trash collector? No problem, if he dumps over the
can, he has to pick it up.  And I doubt he'll be able to leverage his need
based on the mad skills he possesses or that young people will be lining up
to replace that baby boomer soon.

>Look at the generational change that has occurred in the US presidency. I
>really didn't think it would happen this quick, but like it or not it is
>happening.

Now there's a great example!  But if you've been following the story
closely, you'd also know that his access to certain technology is happening
in a very controlled environment, with limited use of certain sources of
information, through encrypted communication via a tightly controlled
channel.  http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-262060.html  

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