At a previous employer I helped build an employee monitoring system that was essentially a keylogger and would also take screenshots periodically and on every click. All this data was piped into our cloud and could be used by middle management for granular monitoring and evaluation. The whole product was positioned for process optimisation but I know for a fact that it was used to monitor and eventually reduce headco…
Maybe it's time to write a guide for employees on how to detect that this is running.
What was the requirement? My apartment building has lights in the hallways that are only on when needed, but they just use a basic infrared sensor.
* Minimize BOM cost. Only 1 in N lights would actually have the full sensor complement, so they needed to communicate. * Minimize installation cost. They just wanted to plug into a light socket, not run network cabling. * Push data logs to a central server. They didn't want to send a tech physically to each lightbulb to get data for e.g. energy usage certifications. plus other obvious requirements. All of that made i…
I built a lighting system for to save energy by turning off hallway lights when not in use. The environmental aspect was great and saved hundreds of thousands in electricity. Someone eventually realized that the mesh network I built to connect all the lights together and report usage statistics could also be used to track employees moving throughout the building and catch them taking unauthorized breaks in the stairw…
Almost all software can be abused or co-opted for surveillance purposes. It's one of the reasons I've grown more disillusioned with computer tech over the years.
In many cases, software is like a tool. I provided a screwdriver: generally it's used for good, but sometimes it's used for assembling a bomb. By providing the screwdriver, I have no influence on how it's used. For me, it's important that most software I write is free software with few restrictions on its use. That way, I ensure that my screwdriver is available for all good purposed, even though I acknowledge that I cannot prevent it from being able to be used for evil. It's a tricky balance, but I trust that the good uses of new tools outweigh the evil. A war on screwdrivers won't prevent missiles targeting civilians.
ever heard of ActiveX? you know, arbitrary code installing and running in your browser on Windows and available to be scripted by javascript? like, instead of Java? sorry. I'm not solely responsible, but sorry, pretty responsible. we were young. code-signing as a means of validating origin was a great idea. though it needed additional infrastructure to prevent abuse and allow global revocation, and that wasn't perfec…
So glad I entered the game as ActiveX was being phased out haha.
This is one side story, with no "oh I didn't knew it'll be used that way!" gotcha moment - I've worked in private milsec for some time, and I'm responsible for few device designs / ammo improvements/mk's, while I take pride in job well done, just because someone dies more quickly, doesn't mean its a good death - so after some years, I've started having doubts of that career path.
Thing is, when the company that pays you actively wants to track everyone, there's little you can do as the person that creates tech form them. If the piece of software you created is unbiased and unopinionated, it can be used for evil purposes. If you make the software deliberatedly against that, you have to (a) take measures without the company knowing (b) have the manpower to do it alone while still reaching devel…
"Thing is, when the company that pays you actively wants to track everyone, there's little you can do as the person that creates tech form them." You can quit. Literally, there is something you can do. If your boss asks you to write or adapt something to surveil, then you can quit. There may be consequences to quitting, perhaps disproportionately felt between you and the company, perhaps consequences that you won't e…
You can organize.
Why shouldn't workers in a factory have a say over how their labour is used by those who appropriate it?
Baffled by how obvious solutions appear to have fallen off the radar.
* Minimize BOM cost. Only 1 in N lights would actually have the full sensor complement, so they needed to communicate. * Minimize installation cost. They just wanted to plug into a light socket, not run network cabling. * Push data logs to a central server. They didn't want to send a tech physically to each lightbulb to get data for e.g. energy usage certifications. plus other obvious requirements. All of that made i…
Are these hallways for staff only?
Not as far as I was ever aware. They were intended for guest areas.
Long ago, I worked on a popular dating app (maybe not anymore, but still top 5) and learned how they monetize "love" and "dating". Building features that claim one thing (marketing got it approved by legal) but under the hood work in a ridiculous way. Worked on an e-commerce site for an extremely well known media company. Again, tech wise it was cool, but the way it worked and how the marketing and other folks talked…
A lot of "tech" companies are really just marketing companies. No innovation is being done, just optimizing some funnel.
Working on useful software is good, glad you're doing that now.