Ah... Liberals. Control freaks. That explains a lot.
I think they might be logging refreshes, though I'm not sure. They've conveniently never explained to us exactly how our internet time is measured, so no one really has any idea what they can get away with. Meanwhile, you can only check your usage once the week is over, so you have no idea how much time you've spent online until it's too late to do anything about it. Nor can you test how you surf to check how it's measured.
The only way they can do it is to assume a certain amount of time per site hit. They're gathering the info at the gateway router or the proxy server. The only thing it knows is who is hitting what web page address. It doesn't know anything beyond that. There is no way for them to know how long your browser is open.
How does a key-logging system work?
You don't want to know. But, in case you do... a key-logger is an application that runs *on* your computer and it captures every keystroke and collects everything that users do into a log file that a manager can review. Some loggers even capture screen shots from time to time. If they are doing this then they have sunk into the lowest of the low of micro-management. The resources it takes to do this sort of thing are the ultimate in wastes of money. Capturing screen shots, for example, requires a file storage system that is at least ten to a hundred times the size that they would ordinarily need to have. Big, big bucks.
Maybe I should leave webpages open but in the background and see what happens to my usage...a week after the fact, of course.
Better yet... get on your boss's computer and open a stock quote streaming applet, and then send it to run minimized in the background so that he/she can't tell it is there. Let it run for a couple of weeks. [sigh. sometimes I just hate myself...]
Hmmm...I just realized I have someone I could probably ask who might know how it all works. He would tell me, if he knows anything. Maybe I'll do some investigative work and see what I can find out.
Now yer talkin'...