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Welcome to the era of the hyper-surveilled office

economist.com

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Re: Welcome to the era of the hyper-surveilled office

#91

Post by herodoturtle »

palisade wrote: post #82

I worked at a place once where we got a memo that asked everyone to stop clipping nails and farting because the microphones installed in our desks were picking these noises up. The memo even added that if you need to fart please go to the bathroom. It wasn't a joke email, they were serious. Oh, also not many people realize this but CCTV cameras all have the capability to convey audio captured via an internal micropho…

One of the greatest benefits of working from home - which is seldom celebrated - is the ability to fart at one’s leisure without having to try silence it.

Re: Welcome to the era of the hyper-surveilled office

#92

Post by palisade »

herodoturtle wrote: post #91
palisade wrote: post #82

I worked at a place once where we got a memo that asked everyone to stop clipping nails and farting because the microphones installed in our desks were picking these noises up. The memo even added that if you need to fart please go to the bathroom. It wasn't a joke email, they were serious. Oh, also not many people realize this but CCTV cameras all have the capability to convey audio captured via an internal micropho…

One of the greatest benefits of working from home - which is seldom celebrated - is the ability to fart at one’s leisure without having to try silence it.

We need a new law. The Freedom To Have Our Farts Go UnHeard Act. ;D

Re: Welcome to the era of the hyper-surveilled office

#93

Post by peteradio »

Qem wrote: post #51
formerkrogemp wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nah, in retail, we used to have this software known as "secret shoppers." If they didn't see someone smiling, the store or department would be docked points on its evaluation, and you'd be hearing about it from your boss and boss's boss. Now all of us WFH minions below the lowly programmers will be subject to a smiling rictus as our cameras, microphones, and keyloggers determine productivity scores, work morale, and…

How long before somebody uses AI to permasmile your face in virtual conferences? The market is ripe for an arms race here.

Oh man, thats too funny, can you imagine the glitchy smiles snapping off someones face as they slightly turn their head? All the sudden every meeting is filled with barely perceptible uncanny artifacts... So far everywhere I've worked is cameras off except for intimate meetings (and even then its optional/reciprocated), usually a few people will try to keep their cameras on to start a trend or something but I imagine ends up feeling like an idiot with the only camera on.

Re: Welcome to the era of the hyper-surveilled office

#94

Post by pmoriarty »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #59
imranq wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is getting a job so competitive? Last I heard there was a labor shortage

There's a shortage of people willing to work in terrible conditions. I'd usually add "for a pittance," but I see FAANG (is it now "MAANG"?) companies offering pretty insane salaries, but they are notorious for difficult working conditions.

Finance is another industry notorious for working their employees like slaves. Which I never understood, as these are some of the richest companies in the world, which could easily afford to hire more people instead of overworking the ones they had.

Doctors and nurses are also infamously overworked, with crazy shifts and lack of sleep being the norm. This is even more unconscionable as lack of sleep can lead to mistakes where patients die.

Re: Welcome to the era of the hyper-surveilled office

#95

Post by bwestergard »

pmoriarty wrote: post #90
bwestergard wrote: post #79

I'm a software developer working remotely most of the time. My unionized colleagues and I pushed for and won an agreement to prevent our employer from surveilling us in this manner. Several other recently organized companies have gotten similar agreements. https://twitter.com/WeBuildNPR/status/1522586389774221313?cx...

INAL, but it seems that the wording in the agreement leaves open the use of surveillance software on employees, as long as it's not for the purpose of "evaluating the employee's work product (i.e. job duties assigned to the employee), the time an employee took to complete their work, or disciplining an employee in protected concerted activity." The company could still use such software on employees and claim it was d…

You are right that the language could be stronger. This was the outcome after a few rounds of proposals and counter-proposals. I believe that in the context of an overall agreement with a "just cause" provision, which we have tentative agreement on, we don't have to worry about "bossware" at all.

> The company could still use such software on employees and claim it was doing so for security purposes, for instance, or maybe even just to make sure the employee was working (without evaluating the work product).

This article will be incorporated into a larger collective bargaining agreement that specifies people can only be disciplined or terminated for "just cause". The most common "just cause" for termination is a failure to perform one's job duties. Our employer could not use information gleaned through software surveillance to demonstrate just cause, much as police officers can't introduce evidence obtained illegally in court.

> or maybe even just to make sure the employee was working

That would fall under "time taken to complete the work".

Re: Welcome to the era of the hyper-surveilled office

#96

Post by peteradio »

nonrandomstring wrote: post #63
thematrixturtle wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where do you see "celebrating" in the article? Over half of it is devoted to worker pushback against surveillance and criticism of the technology itself, including whether it even works.

The latter third of the article is devoted to push-back. Nonetheless, as all writers understand, bias can be subtle [1] Let's start with the title. "Welcome to the era of the hyper-surveilled office" Does that not lend at least tacit assent by ambivalence, if not outright assent? Welcome? The next 750 words are given over to normalising the "lot's of valid reasons" to surveil workers, and lending value to an emerging…

I really enjoyed your theatrics, moist was a nice touch. Do you ever feel like an article can be written for its intentional expected negative backlash? What better way to do that then honestly present the frothy maw right up front for all to be disgusted?

Re: Welcome to the era of the hyper-surveilled office

#97

Post by pdkl95 »

emptyparadise wrote: post #4

Feels like every damn thing that happens gets used as a pretext to enable more and more surveillance. Will we need job boards specifically for jobs that don't do surveillance too? >Last year Fujitsu, a Japanese technology group, unveiled AI software which promises to gauge employees’ concentration based on their facial expression. Just need software that punishes employees who aren't happy enough at work, then we'll…

> based on their facial expression

Phrenology is still pseudo=scientific bullshit even when the calipers[1] are replaced with an "AI" black box of software.

> Just need software that punishes employees who aren't happy enough at work, then we'll have a proper nightmare.

"RSA ANIMATE: Smile or Die"[2]

[1] https://images1.bonhams.com/image?src=Images/live/2006-06/16...

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5um8QWWRvo

Re: Welcome to the era of the hyper-surveilled office

#98

Post by t-writescode »

palisade wrote: post #82

I worked at a place once where we got a memo that asked everyone to stop clipping nails and farting because the microphones installed in our desks were picking these noises up. The memo even added that if you need to fart please go to the bathroom. It wasn't a joke email, they were serious. Oh, also not many people realize this but CCTV cameras all have the capability to convey audio captured via an internal micropho…

I’m not a lawyer, but that sounds like such a violation of wiretapping laws.

I don’t know of any zero-party consent laws for audio.

Re: Welcome to the era of the hyper-surveilled office

#99

Post by frankfrankfrank »

pluc wrote: post #88

Get this. I worked for the company that produces most of the porn on the Internet. You know, the porn you can go to any torrent site and download for free within 10 minutes (and that statement has been true for as long as there has been an Internet and BitTorrent). That company periodically took screenshots of all (ALL!) their employees' workstations. They monitor internal network for suspicious traffic and, until CO…

You have to understand the primary purpose of that whole industry, which is not what most people think, in order to answer the question about what they were “afraid of”.

Let me just put it this way, you are correct that the concern with employee monitoring makes absolutely no sense, because that’s not the right perspective, assumption of motivation.

Re: Welcome to the era of the hyper-surveilled office

#100

Post by pmoriarty »

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #67
blueflow wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Re G20: The people making the mess were young activists, the article even mentions their group affiliation by name. They are not the working class, they are a nuisance to the working class. I'd be in favor of classifying them as terrorists.

>I'd be in favor of classifying them as terrorists Same with Antifa. Some protestors are basically just mindless hooligans and their protests and property damage are harming the small business and working class people a lot more than the politicians and the ruling class. Like during the protests in France I kept seeing many mid-range Renault/Peugeot/Citroens on fire on the streets of Paris. Chances are those were mos…

The problem is that violence gets attention and sometimes conciliatory action like nothing else.

Riots and terrorism generate world headlines, while peaceful picketing rarely gets anywhere near the attention (unless it's also met by violence, as the nonviolent demonstrations and sit-ins were during the Civil Rights struggles in the 60's).

I am a pacifist myself, and am completely against violence, but I can see why some people who have less of a problem with it might find it strategically advantageous.

The willingness to resort to violence is a great part of the reason that the world is as much a hellhole as it is now.

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