Ask HN: Do you have an aversion to time tracking/screen capture software?

Yeah, in general it is not acceptable. The clients who will require this are not the clients you want.

Basically, it is impossible to ensure you're not leaking information while you have such software installed. There are too many vectors. Unless you literally setup a VM per client and ensure you do not check email on that VM, which I suppose is possible ...

Yep. I would never use such a thing.

In fact, I feel so strongly against it, that I wrote a blog post on how to find work outside of those marketplace freelance sites that force you to use tracking tools.

You might be interested in reading it at https://nickjanetakis.com/blog/how-to-start-a-successful-fre...

I agree with everything said in the previous comments. If a potential client requires you to use such software walk away as fast as you can. The same applies to freelance marketplaces or other middlemen who try to pull off the same thing.

No, I was working with it for over 2 years on Upwork and I know dozens of people who work for years like that.

I also hired there and I wasn't looking at my freelancers' screenshots. It's just a platform's rule.

I use time tracking and activity tracking for my own edification, but that information is only shared with clients in the form of an invoice.

Lack of trust. There not treating you as a professional.

My main issue is that I don't want to install this kind of software on a computer that is not dedicated for that specific job. If they don't trust me enough to report my work correctly, then why should I trust them when installing proprietary software on my computer? Who knows what else this software is doing, once I install it?

If I had to use this type of software to get a contract, I'd be willing to do it (on a dedicated machine), but the payback would have to be substantial. However, it seems like the gigs that require installing this type of software don't actually pay as well as those that don't.