courtesy of slashdot...
short version: M$ (who else?) filed a patent for the use of wireless sensors to measure an employee’s “heart rate, galvanic skin response, EMG, brain signals, respiration rate, body temperature, movement facial movements [sic], facial expressions and blood pressure”. as a whole, this would permit monitoring an employee’s physical health as well as psychological state. long version here.
commentary: this is breathtaking in both the scope and measure of invasiveness. while there are certainly some theoretical upsides, such as finding developers who’ve spent way too many hours staring at a screen, to me they’re entirely offset by the loss of employee privacy.
most workplaces that offer computers and internet access usually have an “acceptable usage policy” (AUP) that governs how employees may and may not use those resources. that’s perfectly understandable.
but there needs to be a converse “acceptable employee privacy policy” that sets out what employers will not subject employees to. it’s bad enough that in the US, employers do credit checks for job candidates before determining whether they want to hire someone—and that’s just to get in the door! when you’re an employee, you get certain legal protections (labor law) and i’m very concerned about how this is going to go.
and frankly, i think you should be, too.
ed
silverwhisper posted on Jan 16, 2008
| views: 267
Comments
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beyondtheveil said on Jan 16, 2008....
Ed- From the link- "The system could also automatically detect frustration or stress in the user and offer and provide assistance accordingly". This is bullshit propaganda to make it sound like it's for the protection of the employee, just like many other invasions are described by business and government.
Everyone in the working population exhibits frustration and/or stress in the workplace on almost a daily basis. One can see it without having a computer system to point it out.
The last two years I worked, they installed satellite tracking systems on vehicles in a very large fleet at a very high cost and gave us printed material about how it was "solely for our protection". More bullshit, and everyone knew it.
This is clearly one more of the step by step invasions of privacy by business and government for more control and increased production, always with the accompanying lies to attempt to make it more palatable.
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GracefullyGrowing said on Jan 16, 2008....
My word. That's just insane.Just yesterday at a meeting I was fed this type of BS propaganda. We were told how important the constant audio and video survailence is to OUR safety and protection. The thing was, they were trying to "reassure" us that just because they used the tapes to fire someone last week didn't mean we should be paranoid about losing our jobs. They iterated and reiterated how they don't sit around watching the tapes for us to make a bad move so they can fire us. But, it was what they DIDN'T say that was scary. Of course, there was the typical control factor of . . . "If you're doing your job properly as you're told to do you will have absolutley nothing to worry about."Yeah. I know you're my big brother - you don't have to hit me over the head with it.~Grace~ -
silverwhisper said on Jan 16, 2008....
beyond: i agree that it's bullshit. and yeah, the GPS thing is pretty darned obvious. i wanna scream, "stop insulting my intelligence--you're full of it!" when i see it. :>
grace: ain't it just? "so long as you do nothing wrong there's nothing to fear" is such a stupid and insulting way of dismissing concerns.
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kelly said on Jan 22, 2008....
WTF? When I read your post I thought that this MUST be some kind of joke. I'm still not sure. That is insane.Man, between Bush and Big Money the evil is coming at us faster than we can process and respond to it. -
silverwhisper said on Jan 22, 2008....
kelly: i agree that's insane. but those boys in redmond don't have much of a sense of humor AFAICT...
ed