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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

#121

Post by brk »

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…

Most CCTV cameras used in professional installations do not have any kind of on-board microphone. Many have an audio input option for an external mic, but it is very rarely used.

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

#122

Post by mschuster91 »

raxxorraxor wrote: post #118
ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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…

In Germany at least Antifa aren't terrorists. Actual hooligans are much more destructive by several magnitudes. State intelligence often tries to frame them as terrorists but they break fewer laws than the state itself. Also by several magnitudes.

> In Germany at least Antifa aren't terrorists. Actual hooligans are much more destructive by several magnitudes.

Not to mention much more murderous. Fascists have murdered over 200 people since the reunification [1], left-wing oriented people four in the same time [2]

[1] https://www.dw.com/de/chronologie-rechte-gewalt-in-deutschla...

[2] https://katapult-magazin.de/de/artikel/gegenueberstellung-po...

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

#123

Post by brk »

palisade wrote: post #106
t-writescode wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It's not all bad, though. Sometimes it's used for good like the gunshot direction detection mics.

Most indoor gunshot detection systems use dedicated hardware, with the microphone going into an on-board audio analysis circuit. They generally cannot be used for ambient listening.

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

#124

Post by kcplate »

t-writescode wrote: post #98
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.

I suspect that at least in the US, its probably not illegal to do this in a business, especially if it is spelled out in the employment contract that they have the right to monitor all communications.

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

#125

Post by [deleted] »

maxfurman wrote: post #87
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I've seen "MANGA" lately, but everyone still knows what you mean by FAANG

[deleted]

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

#126

Post by pmoriarty »

mschuster91 wrote: post #114
pmoriarty wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 s…

> The problem is that violence gets attention and sometimes conciliatory action like nothing else. The thing is, the government itself is violent at its core: - cops beating up peaceful protesters or executing people on the streets - cops evicting people from their homes because they can't keep up with rent - cops arresting women because of miscarriages (over 1.200 in 15 years per [1]!) and soon because they dared to…

Something else to consider, for those that don't object to violence on moral or ethical grounds, is that violence is often counterproductive.

If used against powerful governments it usually results in violent crackdowns which wind up killing off and/or imprisoning the leaders of the anti-government movements.

When used against weak governments, the government may topple, but what arises in its place is often even worse than the toppled government, and that tends to be followed by much more bloodshed.

If used against the populace it tends to cause both vigilante violent reaction and a resentment of the populace against one's cause.

Violent action usually leads to violent reaction, and the moderates are killed off by those who are even less reluctant to use violence to achieve their aims.

Countries thus afflicted not infrequently are plunged in to the horrors of civil war, which suits the extremists of every stripe, while ordinary people who just want to live their life are devastated.

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

#127

Post by philote »

pmoriarty wrote: post #72
totetsu wrote: post #65

I recently had to install chrom'ium' on my work pc, because all the mainstream browsers were auto installing an un-removable tracking extension via some domain policy :(. I'm sure my manager gets some report at the end of the month detailing how many hours I had a news.ycombinator.com tab open

Why even use you work pc for non-work purposes? If you want to browse HN, why not just browse it on your phone?

Because phones are small and horrible to type on.

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

#128

Post by raxxorraxor »

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…

> Does that not lend at least tacit assent by ambivalence, if not outright assent? Welcome?

Not at all. It reads like pure sarcasm.

> The next 750 words are given over to normalising the "lot's of valid reasons" to surveil workers, and lending value to an emerging surveillance industry

This is a rhetoric device to underline that you understand the incentive of those employing it in preparation to offer a better alternative, e.g. actually capable management. Or just to explain why managers want to use it.

An employer has of course the right to check your work to know why he is paying you. I firmly condemn management employing crapware like this, I think the developers offering these solutions are very likely shady characters. Defining a goal a worker has to reach is exactly what surveillance management isn't capable of. Employees will optimize the metric not the business goal and honestly I would help them cheat it in any way possible.

> It would be improved by actual productivity studies, the psychological literature on workplace surveillance

Not needed to reject it as an employee at all.

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

#129

Post by ISL »

aa-jv wrote: post #107

I recently had a manager insist that I install some MDM-like software on my laptop so that it could be tracked and managed remotely. I said, "okay I'll do that, but then I'm never going to put that laptop on my home network, or use it on any network I may frequent outside of the office, so I'll just leave my laptop on my work desk instead". The point, of course, is the same reasoning behind IT policies that don't let…

This sort of approach only works reliably if you have a credible alternative to the negotiation.

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

#130

Post by _Algernon_ »

palisade wrote: post #106
t-writescode wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It's not all bad, though. Sometimes it's used for good like the gunshot direction detection mics.

Imagine living somewhere where "gunshot direction detection mics" are considered normal and good, instead of the dystopian nightmare it actually is.
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