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Content type: Examples
12th August 2019
In December 2018 Walmart was granted a patent for a new listening system for capturing and analysing sounds in shopping facilities. The system would be able to compare rustling shopping bags and cash register beeps to detect theft, monitor employee interactions with customers, and even listen to what customers are saying about products. The company said it had no plans to deploy the system in its retail stores. However, the patent shows that, like the systems in use in Amazon's cashier-less Go…
Content type: Examples
12th August 2019
New workplace technologies are generating mountains of data on workers despite a lack of clarity over how the data is used and who owns it. In offices, smart badges track interactions and sensors track fitness and health; in trucks sensors monitor drivers' performance in the name of safety. In the US state of Illinois, between July and October 2017 26 lawsuits were filed by employees alleging that their employers had violated the state's Biometric Information Privacy Act, which requires a…
Content type: Examples
1st December 2017
In 2017, Uber began a programme experimenting with using psychology and social science insights to influence when, where, and how long its drivers work. Among other techniques, Uber auto-loaded the next fare to encourage the driver equivalent of binge TV-watching; reminded drivers when they're close to their earnings targets to keep them from logging off; and used game-style graphics and small-value awards to keep drivers at the wheel. The company also had male managers adopt female personas…
Content type: Examples
1st December 2017
In 2015, the Swedish startup hub Epicenter began offering employees microchip implants that unlock doors, operate printers, and pay for food and drink. By 2017, about 150 of the 2,000 workers employed by the hub's more than 100 companies had accepted the implants. Epicenter is just one of a number of companies experimenting with this technology, which relies on Near Field Communication (NFC). The chips are biologically safe, but pose security and privacy issues by making it possible to track…
Content type: Examples
5th May 2018
Behind the colourful bicycles and games rooms, Silicon Valley tech giants operate a strict code of secrecy, relying on a combination of cultural pressure, digital and physical surveillance, legal threats, and restricted stock to prevent and detect not only criminal activity and intellectual property theft but also employees and contracts who speak publicly about their working conditions. Apple has long been known for requiring employees to sign project-specific non-disclosure agreements (NDAs…
Content type: Examples
12th August 2019
In November 2018, worried American parents wishing to check out prospective babysitters and dissatisfied with criminal background checks began paying $24.99 for a scan from the online service Predictim, which claimed to use "advanced artificial intelligence" to offer an automated risk rating. Predictim based its scores in part on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram posts - applicants were required to share broad access to their accounts - and offered no explanation of how it reached its risk…
Content type: Explainer
30th July 2020
At first glance, infrared temperature checks would appear to provide much-needed reassurance for people concerned about their own health, as well as that of loved ones and colleagues, as the lockdown is lifted. More people are beginning to travel, and are re-entering offices, airports, and other contained public and private spaces. Thermal imaging cameras are presented as an effective way to detect if someone has one of the symptoms of the coronavirus - a temperature.
However, there is little…
Content type: Examples
2nd May 2018
In 2016 the Dutch Data Protection Authority (AP) ruled that the Personal Data Protection Act prohibits companies from monitoring their employees' health via wearables, even when employees have given their permission. The ruling concluded the AP's investigation into two companies; in one of them, wearables even gave the employer insight into its employees' sleep patterns. The AP argued that employers are free to give wearables as gifts, but that the power relationship between employer and…
Content type: Examples
3rd May 2018
In the 2014 report "Networked Employment Discrimination", the Future of Work Project studied data-driven hiring systems, which often rely on data prospective employees have no idea may be used, such as the results of Google searches, and other stray personal data scattered online. In addition, digital recruiting systems that only accept online input exclude those who do not have internet access at home and must rely on libraries and other places with limited access and hours to fill in and…