Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft to Spy on Employees
4T writes "Forget about monitoring your computers with spyware, now they're going to monitor the users as well!
'Microsoft is developing Big Brother-style software capable of remotely monitoring a worker's productivity, physical wellbeing and competence.
The Times has seen a patent application filed by the company for a computer system that links workers to their computers via wireless sensors that measure their metabolism. The system would allow managers to monitor employees' performance by measuring their heart rate, body temperature, movement, facial expression and blood pressure. Unions said they fear that employees could be dismissed on the basis of a computer's assessment of their physiological state.'"
http://www.visar.com/AssistedSuicide.gif
anything like this?
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
I thought they already were spying on their employees.
The simple truth is that interstellar distances will not fit into the human imagination
- Douglas Adams
I think there was a book about this.
Wait a second here... so this is being developed by Microsoft employees... FOR microsoft employees???? It's a wonder anybody still has any desire to work there.
I think Microsoft probably has hundreds of patents for things they don't ever intend to actually make, but just in case someone else does they want to be there to make a buck off of licensing. I highly doubt that they actually think this type of software would currently be accepted in today's climate, at least not unless they call it something innovative like "The USA Health-watch Patriot Software". I've found that its important to include the word "Patriot" in all aspects of your life, it really just gets you instant approval to do whatever you want!
Well, i'm off to use my iPatriot computer and drive my Patriot Chevy to the Patriot Meeting this afternoon. Come to think of it, thats probably why New England is winning so much, everyone else just needs to put Patriot in their team name!
"To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." - Tennyson
Given how much my blood pressure skyrockets under the influence of Word, Excel, and Powerpoint, I'm not sure that MS really will want this data due to liability issues. If MS collects data that shows that MS products reduce the health and wellbeing of users, that makes MS more culpable for those products. Of course, IANAL so maybe a new "not responsible for user's health" section of the the EULA will cover MS legally.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
After installing vista, I feel like they already got me by the balls
One of my old employers had this, us in IT hated it and regularly disrupted it or gave users info on how to disable it.
The coolest thing I ever saw was one of the IT guys was able to add a signature into the virus scan software for it and it uninstalled it district wide one night.
Pissed the director of operations off big time when he couldn't spy...
Posting ANON as I know he reads here.... HI DAVE! throwing chairs yet?
The check on metabolism could be useful. Someone could die in this office and nobody would notice for a week.
There's an easy way to game the system and get it to read out that you are functioning at near infinite productivity. The system is set to handle all motions that resemble throwing a chair as super-productive. I hear it is a zeroday that has to do with the model they used for peak effeciency.
I got a catholic block.
if it could monitor the rise in heartbeat, perspiration and body temperature every time the attractive blonde contractor walks part it could no doubt head of harassment claims as well.
on a more serious note, I wonder if it could automatically monitor responses after an email is opened and detect office conflict or romance in the offing.
I wonder what the employers will think when they find such a high percentage of their employees seem to be disgruntled? Or if they end up not using the software because they wouldn't be able to employee anybody if they did?
Transporter_ii
Doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, religion destroys spirituality
Oddly enough I was working on the same thing as me entry in Microsoft's ImagineCup. Guess that's out the window. The article is largely ignoring the important benefits of such a system. Tracking basic vital signs can be an important tool for monitoring and eventually maintaining employee health. The computer can tell the user if they have been sedentary too long. Employers can track the effects of the work environment on users.
"God fights on the side with the best artillery." - Napoleon, Marshal of France - speaking truth to power
This reminds me of the chapter in Snow Crash that focuses on YT's mom's job for the feds. Federal employees have to constantly take lie detector tests and all emails have a suggested reading time. If the employee reads a note faster than expected, they're probably skimming and not taking in all the information. If the employee takes too long to read, then they're probably slow or distracted. It was a great chapter tucked into the middle of the book.
Reviewing just the first hour of video games.
So Microsoft will know if your heart races because you saw something you shouldn't have, because you saw something that reveals you know too much, and they'll know if you are trying to cover up your panic instead of exhibiting a "WTF is this?" response?
Hmmmm.
Reminds me of some bloke I heard about once. Winston, I think his name was. Got fed information about something he shouldn't have known about at work, so his employer tested him out by slipping him a photo showing a meeting that should never have taken place. Winston reacted with instinct instead of controlling his emotions, which were observed... which eventually led to his incarceration, torture, and psychological breaking. Once that had happened, he was done in.
Funny story. Maybe someone should write a book about it. Or make a film.
Shiny. Let's be bad guys...
Only on Slashdot does a patent filed by Microsoft become an assumption that the company will deploy the technology on its own employees.
Until somebody produces proof that Microsoft plans on deploying the system, I'll just assume that this is the usual "M$ IS EEEEEEEVIL" groupthink.
This system is what's on BillBorg Gates' picture next to every Microsoft article on /.
The only things it monitors is biometrics such as heart rate, etc? Well then why not add a camera. I mean how will they tell the difference between raised heart rate and breathing from work exertion compared to that of furious masturbation? I wouldn't be surprised if they start canning employees for "working" a little too hard wink wink nudge nudge. Also sounds a little soviet to me.... In soviet russia computer monitor you!
For once, I'll be glad to give IT help to our female temps.
If you haven't made a developer cry, you've wasted a day.
So, first you put the squeeze on the little guy or gal, and then when the system still fails, you engage in a round of finger pointing, and then the one with the most clout says "ROLL OVER" and they all roll over and one falls out, and then there's a lot of back slapping and yes, now everything will be better, and of course it's NOT, because the rot starts at the head.
This is all so pathetic and predictable. The sooner M$ disappears ,the happier I will be.
RS
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
... knowing about the functioning of my kidneys!
*yank*
...but funny just the same. I believe they are submitting the patent for the technology that would allow themselves or other corporations to do the spying. I assume the ACLU and employees will have some objections to this actually being done, at least if it is do be done surreptitiously.
Use your head, can't you, use your head,
You're on earth, there's no cure for that - S. Beckett
...wearing Depends(tm) under baggy Dockers(tm) everywhere you go. That way nobody except you will know when you pee. Unless you can't keep that silly warm grin off your face everytime you let go.
A few days ago I left the lights on in my car overnight so my battery was dead the next day. I grabbed my battery to walk it to the nearest shop when I passed a towtruck driver with a million batteries in the back of his truck. I told him that I'd pay him 4 bucks to take me to the nearest station(a mile or two away) and he explained to me that he would, but his company was micromanaging his routes via GPS and that there would be hell to pay for the slightest deviation from his route.
:)
In short, companies are greedy
-Monitor cardio and tell the user when they have been sedentary too long.
-Monitor worker's biological response to the workplace environment and adjust as necessary.
"God fights on the side with the best artillery." - Napoleon, Marshal of France - speaking truth to power
BTW, one thing that stood out to me in TFA was:
"The system could also "automatically detect frustration or stress in the user" and "offer and provide assistance accordingly".
Forgive my cynicism, but this seems a bit ... naive.
I just patented a device that falsifies the information. You program at home and take it to work If you leave it in you cubicle, you can go out to lunch at the boss thinks you still there. There is an orgasm mode that simulates the physiological aspects of sex. The heart attack mode is hilarious. It's funny has hell to watch your co-workers grab the defibrillator from the break room and run down the hall. Then there is dead mode...
How long before they start to bill workers with hi hart rates / Blood Pressure more for there health care / take it away?
Security-Central: Looks like we have a dropper again..
Monitor1: User death imminent.
Monitor2: OK, notify MicroMorgue to fire up the incinerator, and dispatch two lawyers to deal with the family members. Send the wife a complimentary vista discount cupon.
Monitor1: Wait, he moved...
Monitor2: HOLD, ignore that MicroMorgue order and get the lawyers back to the Antitrust dep. again.
Monitor1: Hes fine, great. Another buck saved, however Thompson in dep. 2 doesnt look entirely healthy.
Monitor2: Inject 1500 MG of Vitamin-C in Subject 7271 Sector 1G, cubicle 1235.
Security-Central: Injecting vitamin-C now, #1000001, (Blue Screen of Death)
Monitor2: What the He..?
Monitor1: Cr*p! The d*mn machine broke down during the vitamin-c injection.
Monitor2: Uh, oh.... Thomson is running around naked, and thats no joystick...
Monitor1: Run the backup servers and have him injected with 15 mg SleepWell 2000.
Monitor2: The backup servers are runnin Linux...
Monitor1: Were screwed!
What this world is coming to - is for you and me to decide.
Oh wait
I've read the whole thread to this point and this is the only post that points out this kind of technology could actually be used for good.
I could see Microsoft producing the evil version of it, but I couldn't see them using it on their own employees. It's just too contrary to their (internal) corporate culture and the Kool-Aid they coax their employees to drink.
from April 1. Because this sounds like an April Fools joke.
there are 3 kinds of people:
* those who can count
* those who can't
Microsoft is developing Big Brother-style software capable of remotely monitoring a worker's productivity, physical wellbeing and competence.
This is just what MS needed to bolster their sagging image. Product activation, DRM, back-stabbing EULA's and file format lock-in just weren't getting the job done. No, they needed something...something to take corporate dickish intrusion to the next level and beyond. Something that would cement the perception that they have completely lost touch with the last threads of reality.
I don't care if this pos cures world hunger. Try to install this on some machine I'm working on and I'll start dropping my shoes in the gears of the machines.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
I suggest you all note that the only words quoted from the patent itself were "unique monitoring system" and "heart rate, galvanic skin response, EMG, brain signals, respiration rate, body temperature, movement facial movements, facial expressions and blood pressure"... I strongly suspect that there is a less-than-honest reason that the author saw fit selectively edit the excerpts in those particular places.
You can leap to your paranoid conclusions based on nearly nothing, but I am going to go with the more reasonable, intelligent, thoughtful assumption that it is actually software to allow hospitals to more cheaply monitor patients using a PC-based solution--until I hear otherwise, of course. (Though I do think it reflects VERY poorly on most of you that you so willingly swallow whatever line the media feeds you.)
I wonder how these technologies would work for us working at home?
Is my bed and living room sofa going to have analyzers? How would the system know when a person is working or doing some other activity? Would it record snoring?
Does the next generation have also active components? (If you remember the WTO lecturer hoax in Finland, "Textiles of the Future") [The Yes Men, http://www.theyesmen.org/ ]
1. Dr Chaplin, Charles, Modern Times, 1932. 2. Mr Orwell, George, 1984, 1948.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
This brings on a new meaning to the phrase "fired due to a computer glitch".
"We are all geniuses when we dream"
- E.M. Cioran
Google employees build things like gmail and calendar during the 20% time, MS employee decide to build an employee monitoring system. Talk about having to eat your own dog food. These employees are like the kid that always reminded your teacher on Friday to assign homework.
This would also make it pretty difficult for "those two" to sneak in to the closet for a nooner.
So their now selling dsniff?
This is s sign that both employers and employees have bought into the hierarchal structure of business a little too much. The employer is hiring you to do a task not purchasing your mind, body, and soul. Yet all to often that's what they are given, so all too often that's what they expect. i.e. How often is a boss who is a complete dick called "sir" or "Mr." and treated with deference? Are Unions the only people left who really understand and act on the fact that the bossman needs the employees more than the employees need him? Yes, "employees" is plural on purpose.
My employer is quite right to monitor and judge the output and quality of my work, and when applicable to monitor how I effect the public image of the company and the work environment for my fellow employees. None of that includes my heart rate or my general state of health. I'm already being forced to contend with a nanny government, I don't need a nanny work environment as well.
We are all just people.
People with too low a heartrate are obviously underworked.
CAPCOM - GOLD
- Uh, Thirteen. This is Houston. Jim, we just had a drop out
on your biomed sensors?
JIM LOVELL
- I'm not wearing my biomed sensors, Houston.
CAPCOM - GOLD
- Okay, Jim. Copy that.
DR. CHUCK (FLIGHT SURGEON)
- Flight. Now I'm losing all three of them!
GENE KRANTZ (FLIGHT DIRECTOR - WHITE)
- It's just a little medical mutiny, Doc I'm sure the guys
are still with us. Let's cut 'em some slack, okay?
I'm sure "chair throwing" will be overlooked. Well, at LEAST from the executive part of Microsoft.
http://www.critical-art.net/books/flesh/index.html/ and know :-)
Wouldn't it be nice if computers could keep us completely entertained for 8 hours a day in the office?
I much rather come to work if I knew there was something interesting to do.
It's left blank because I have nothing to say to you punks!
While I do find this alarming, I can't help but thinking, it'll never happen. We love talking about "Big Brother" and predicting the rise of the despotic over-lord megacorporations. Yet, it continues to not happen. Do you know why? It's because we won't let it happen. If I worked for a company and they started doing this sort of thing. I would quit. I would go work for a company that respects me. A lot of people would do that. I refused to sign our employee agreement because I found it to be inappropriate. They didn't like it, but ultimately I am worth more to the company than stupid policies.
The only place where "Big Brother"-esque techniques have a chance of succeeding is in the lower level employment sector. If you know that you can always get a new employee that's just as good as your current one, then you are more liable to implement unpopular policies. Nevertheless, even in these situations, most companies prefer to treat their employees better. Hell, treating your employees well is cheaper than micro-managing them. It also keeps them from being so pissed they commit corporate espionage or just burn the place down.
I'm tired of doomsday predictions. The truth is, working conditions will continue doing the same thing they've been doing for decades, improving.
They won't until the health insurance company gets their greedy little hands on the data. Keep in mind that most companies do not actually provide their own health insurance, opting instead to purchase it through a normal insurance company. Because of the way group health insurance works, it is not in the interest of a company to share this data with the insurer unless the insurer creates one (which would probably be illegal).
Employee's of health insurance companies, however...
Try not to take me more seriously than I take myself.
...and will this software be installed on their computers? To monitor their heart rate, body temperature, movement, facial expression and blood pressure?
After all, "stress and frustration" have more serious consequences if they lead to bad decision-making.
How about generals? How about the Commander-in-Chief? Isn't their "productivity, physical wellbeing and competence" important?
Why do I somehow think that it is not going to be installed on any management machines... and that the stated rationales are pretexts?
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
As an endurance athlete with a freakishly low resting heart rate (42 bpm), I can tell you that every time I go to a new doctor they freak right the hell out around the time of my first physical. They tell me that I have an enlarged left ventricle and that I "obviously have heart disease"... Doc? Did you notice that I'm also about 5% body fat, have ripped legs, and a funny-looking tan? Yes. I'm an endurance geek. Yes, this fucks up your baseline.
When my heart rate is elevated due to office stress, it might jump into the 60s. This is going to screw with your readings.
Furthermore, isn't this more-or-less just a wireless polygraph where you're looking at data without asking questions? Where the hell is the accuracy in that?
blog |
Part of the process of dehumanizing our species.....why are we doing this to ourselves????
My heart rate and facial expression change when she walks by. Really, I don't surf pr0n at work.
Oh, and MS is looking to sell a billion licenses to China. Maybe another 10M to outsourced workers in India.
Finally, software no one will have any desire to pirate?
"Given your heart rate, looks that you will be throwing a chair soon. Would you like help with that?"
Sounds a lot like the movie Antitrust, keeping tabs on everyone.
I am sure you can match biometric data to how many widgets are produced, or even if your driver is likely to be alert (e.g. performing at a higher safety level.) But how can you tell if they are writing good, persuasive prose for that proposal, or cranking out good code or buggy crap that is ultimately negative productivity?
Collect all the data you want, just don't act on that data alone. You will probably find that different people are productive in different ways. One guy might produce 1/5 of his weekly product each day of the week and another might screw around reading Slashdot and watching YouTube, then produce an equal amount of work coding all night a couple of days a week.
I think the utility of such monitoring will depend on the task at hand more than finding "perfectly productive" workers.
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
Actually, many employers use self-funded health plans. These plans are administered by health insurance companies and most employees have no idea that the employer is actually funding the costs. The only time actual insurance kicks in is when a stop-loss figure is hit.
when playing games the system will indicate that we are at full rate are blood preasure will be high, our heart rate too our brain activity would be at peak :D
we will work for a long time
imagination is more inportant than knowledge @ Albert Eintein
It is clear that this is a plot by MS to cut down on staff. "How can we make our workplace as hostile as humanly possible?"
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
What are the metabolic differences in human beings in front of computer screens showing:
- Java or C# code with an uninitialized pointer on line 336
- Porn
- The last 2 minutes of an eBay auction
- An e-mail from the CEO forecasting layoffs
- A memo from the pointy-headed boss about a project you have to do that will add nothing to the sum of human knowledge
- Sixty minutes after a department meeting with free pizza
- The stock market ticker this week, or ...
- Your cube neighbor fighting on the phone with her spouse about the divorce
- Realizing that your presentation for tomorrow's meeting was not saved before the computer crashed
How Microsoft ties all of the above together into a useful management tool will be an indicator of how far we will be on the True road to 1984. I am not hopeful.
It is like self fulfilling prophecy. You use hidden cameras, key loggers, hook the employee up to heart monitors and watch their facial expressions, install GPS in their vehicles, tell them what they can't do when they aren't even at work, watch facebook and myspace in case someone slips up and has a little too much fun...and then they can't grasp why they can't find any good, happy employees.
Doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, religion destroys spirituality
A Microsoft system that measures employee stress levels will eventually be used to COMPARE employee stress levels with and without Microsoft products on their computers. It would make more sense for MS to patent this technology and bury it than to risk exposing the relationship between crappy software and employee stress.
There's already a similar patent
Who needs heart rate monitoring when you have one of these
All MS needs to do is hook their employees up to one of these and monitor the angle and pressure. That'll cut down on porn surfing, inter-office liasons and daydreams of Natalie Portman. That'll increase productivity alone.
God: When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all.
No problem ... just hook the sensors up to my cat from 9-5 every day.
Always relaxed, always happy.
* Special conditions: the employee agrees that any excess electricity generated by the employee in the patented chamber will be available for use by the Company, at no charge.
The system would allow managers to monitor employees' performance by measuring their heart rate, body temperature, movement, facial expression and blood pressure.
I propose the Ballmer scale. All these measurements combined add up much as SpamAssasin rating system.
0.0. Normal state, even slightly happy.
0.1. Slightly upset, nothing to worry about.
0.2. Upset. Something's going on with this guy but he won't make it evident.
0.4. Angry. He's having a bad day, he'll be fine tomorrow.
0.6. Furious. Avoid when possible. Do not step in his way.
0.8. Very furious. Considered dangerous. Contact law enforcement immediately.
1.0. Berserker. Expect exploding forehead veins and mayor damage to company's furniture.
Another example of the evil empire at work. How can these guys sleep at night? Can you imagine a worse kind of privacy invasion? Bill Gates can give all his money away to charity but he's still going to hell.
Rather like this idea. It could certainly be abused, as could any tool, but in the right hands (ostensibly mine) it could allow for huge gains in B2B software UI design. I wish I could make two different layouts of the same app and get actual feedback about which is more intuitive. (.NET coder though I am I tend to prefer mouse-free interfaces, which isn't exactly an Lowest Common Denominator friendly approach)
"The system could also "automatically detect frustration or stress in the user" and "offer and provide assistance accordingly"."
I can't believe they actually added that to the patent filing. Just what every coder wants. Every few minutes some big brother style paper clip poping up on the screen asking them if they need assistance.... Or maybe a few streches.
TruePunk | Games
Clippy: Hi, I see that you are stressed out. Should I order beer and pizza? Or should I order you a hooker?
General, you are listening to a machine! Do the world a favor and don't act like one.
If this were something invented by Google, it would have a title like "Google saves workers lives". Instead, it gets "Microsoft to spy on employees" which carries connotations of the whole HP deal from a couple of years ago. Titles like this keep /. on the freaky fringe of news organizatons /i
OK who tagged this ceilingcat?
"I can has omniscience and omnipresence?" - Bill G.
Where did the article say that Microsoft was going to spy on its employees? It talks about a patent only!
It looks like you're trying to kill yourself!
Would you like help?
* Get help with killing yourself.
* Just kill yourself without help.
O Show me this tip every time I start to show signs of optimism.
If you're an American (like I am) and they try to use biometrics, just watch some European porn at work. The porn will raise your BP, breathing and alertness measures, and the nuances of a diffrent langauge dialect will raise any thought metrics above a normal baseline, but not so much that the computer thinks you are confused or strugling tounderstand what you're doing.
On a more serious note, I think this is a bad idea because some people like a co-worker I have get easily `exctied` and panicy over little things, which the system might interpret as incompetence or `vigilence` but is truly neither. On the other hand, when it hits the fan, I'm always pretty level headed, and you don't see me panicing while reading error logs, so it could mark me as `under-performing` or `apathetic` very easily against the departmental baseline.
Forgive my spelling from time to time. I'm often posting during short breaks.
- "Congratulations, you've proven to be the most productive member at this unit!" - Of course, I use OpenOffice, Firefox, Ruby on Rails...
I think a countdown timer every 108 minutes would be good. You have to enter the code within the last minute or bad things happen. That'll keep them on their toes.
Somehow along the way I made a bad choice in life and now must live with 0 Karma.
The song for the typical M$ drone:
"Listen, I'm a corpse, I'm a corpse
I'm a corpse without soul
Satan, he's taken, he's taken, he's taken his toll
And he took it out on me
I, I'm trapped, I'm trapped, I'm trapped in his spell
Tonight, I'm going, I'm going, I'm going to Hell, inside his spell
I was walking down among the graves, I heard a cry, my shadow is gone
Emptiness in my body, I felt so alone, Small black wings on my naked back
Now guess what I saw on one of the stones, I saw my soul, in a magical
haze
It was all dressed up as a corpse in a wedding dress
Small black wings on my naked back, now hear my prayer, beggin' for mercy
I'm living to die, Satan has taken his toll." - Mercyful Fate
Thing is, I somehow suspect that any such system would likely be running Microsoft-only software, so there would be no means of comparing the effects of MS software vs other software. Thus, it would be impossible to distinguish reduced health due to MS software, and reduced health due to work in general. Then again, "reduced health" suggests some sort of healthier baseline, and if your vital signs are *always* crappy whenever you're working, and your vital signs are only ever monitored while you're working, you might instead just wind up with a terrible health insurance rating. All pretty insidious no matter how it's sliced.
Cheers, :-\
"What in the name of Fats Waller is that?"
"A four-foot prune."
Everyone here is posting how to hack around it or whatever.
The real solution is to refuse to accept working like this in the first place.
What are we, men or mice?
At least one large local company has fired people for being seen using competitors' products in public while wearing a company uniform.
This company also does random drug testing by the hair method.
People still line up to work there because of the benefits and perks.
Fucking sheep.
"The system could also "automatically detect frustration or stress in the user" and "offer and provide assistance accordingly"." Can you imagine clippy the magical paperclip popping up with his little suggestions when you hit a certain stress load?
Of course, we offer a very generous benefits package including two weeks paid vacation, a number of paid holidays, matching 401k, full medical and dental and best of all, we'll let you choose from one of six vibrantly colored catheters that will placed in your ass for sampling throughout your workday. Where do I sign up?
it produces reports 10 years later.
There are federal laws in the U.S. which prevent a number of people from disclosing medical information to your employer without your written consent, i.e. anything in your medical records (blood pressure, resting heart rate, etc). Even then, employers cannot track or store medical information on a specific employee as this is considered Protected Health Information (PHI).
Sounds like a polygraph hook up to me ...
what's next, a come back for chastity belts?
Downright creepy.
Right now the only serious privacy protection in the USA is in regards to medical records. Using something like this would give away enough information to not only identify certain kinds of medical problems but it could also be used to profile for potential medical problems.
Laws will be written to address this; likely after years of abuse. Naturally, when its illegal then it will completely stop and no employer will ever think of downloading the chinese made plug-in from the internet to break these laws...
Another place of concern is if this information becomes accessible, so employers can look up your score-- like they can with your credit score. Pirate bay like websites could get serious funding doing these sort of things from outside the country.
The medical problems at least will only exist in the USA, where employment and your health are connected to the bottom line (and don't think for a second that health costs are not deciding factors)
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
"...why not my heart rate?"
HIPAA establishes regulations for the use and disclosure of Protected Health Information (PHI) -- anything health related (health records, payment histories) that is linked to a specific employee.
Federal law states employers cannot do anything regarding your health information without your consent.
The Americans with Disabilities Act specifies:
* Employers may not ask job applicants about medical information or require a physical examination prior to offering employment.After employment is offered, an employer can only ask for a medical examination if it is required of all employees holding similar jobs.
* If you are turned down for work based on the results of a medical examination, the employer must prove that it is physically impossible for you to do the work required.
This reminds me of the scene in Gattaca where the main character has a bad heart, but plays back a recording of a healthy heart while on a heart monitor.
Anybody know where to buy stress-free biometric recordings?
It would be time to find another job.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
When they check my heart rate and breathing, they'll think I'm the greatest Goddamn worker on the planet!
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
6) Federal Laws like the ADA and HIPAA. You don't toy around with employee's personal health information.
Many employers only manage to comply with the EU Working Time Directive (which sets a limit of an average of 48 hours working week) by claiming that their staff 'choose to work more' of their own free will. So, here is technology that will be able to show that an employer is forcing staff to work in excess of the maximum hours by knowingly exposing them to harmful levels of stress.
Even my PHB is bright enough to pass on this one.
namgge
There are so many ways we can say "I told you so" but this one is a pretty good example of what could possibly go wrong when using a Microsoft or any closed source OS. They can and will hide anything in the code they want. Do you trust Microsoft? Some people are afraid to ask the question in the first place because they know the answer and that they feel there aren't any viable alternatives... and there may not be! It's time to push for change before things get worse. Get vocal with software and hardware vendors about support for Linux, FreeBSD or even MacOS. They will have to act at some point when enough people start asking for it. And you don't have to be a user of an alternative OS at all! Just ask for it. Pave the way for a time in the future to enable you to make the change. It's just a complaint/request and usually doesn't take very long.
Then what are you doing on Slashdot?
The application itself.
I think this is being blown out of proportion. There is nothing in it to indicate that they are planning on "spying on employees".
Mod parent up!
- bringing dogs to work was a good idea. Now if we could just get rid of the stepping in poo problem.
OTOH, if you're being monitored like this you'll need a supply of feces to fling at your zookeepers.
Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and he'll say "WHERE'S MY FISH, YOU IDIOT?"
Everyone should know that making a patent application doesn't mean you are actually developing it. In many companies, submitting a patent gives a developer brownie points with their management, whether the patent is for something that could be used to make money or not. This patent only means that (1) should Microsoft decide to develop such a system then no patent troll can extort them, and (2) should anyone else decide to develop such a system and manage to sell it, then Microsoft can extort money from them.
So Microsoft is now going to have to develop a new blood pressure monitor in order to get this to work considering all home based and smaller blood pressure machines are very innacurate. Unless they are actually going to have a hospital blood pressure unit per employee this will not work. Also, it makes very little sense to me. If I see an attractive co-worker and she comes over and talks to me it's likely my heart rate, b/p, and facial expressions are going to change drastically. There are other umm... ways to increase heart rate and b/p drastically. I wonder what this would look like to those monitering the system.....
"Wireless sensors could read "heart rate, galvanic skin response, EMG, brain signals, respiration rate, body temperature, movement facial movements, facial expressions and blood pressure"
So when you click on Accept on the EULA for a MS product they will know whether you really mean it or not, you get a bit sweaty, your heart rate goes up etc etc....
Other dialogues that could use this are:
I don't think an employer really wants this. It may open them to an interesting liability avenue.
Imaginary scenario:
John Smith is sitting at his desk, typing away at the report for tomorrow's deadline. His blood pressure and heart rate spike momentarily, then calm down. His left arm becomes slightly numb, but he thinks nothing of this. About 20 minutes later, he drops dead.
His family turns and sues Megacorp. Megacorp had access to his vital statistics, and should have noticed the warning signs that he was having a heart attack. Had the company acted upon these all-too-obvious signs, it would have saved John's life. The courts rule with Ms. Smith, and award damages of US$40M. Megacorp goes bankrupt.
Reid.out
The Right Reverend K. Reid Wightman,
The Bill Gates Borg Icon never made so much sense...
"Employee number 154372-D, we noticed you were feeling happy last Thursday at 11.37 am. You are clearly not working hard enough, and therefore we have no option but to terminate your employment here."
The actual patent in question is posted here, I think. This looks like the system they're describing in the article.
/., Microsoft is judged guilty of any accusation levelled against them by virtue of their name, but you *might* (just might) want to read the patent in question for yourself before you jump to conclusions.
I have to admit, this strikes me as more of a "help" or "usability testing" type of system. The computer thinks you're trying to do X, detects what it believes to be frustration, and checks to see if you need help performing activity X. I don't see much in the patent application saying anything about the users being monitored by managers to see if they're meeting performance goals. I will admit I haven't read the entire patent application, I'm not a lawyer and probably wouldn't understand it fully even if I did read the whole thing... but cursory examination seems to indicate that this patent application is nowhere near the alarming privacy violation that TFS or TFA seem to indicate.
I know that, here on
Insurance companies will push the use of such practices, attempting to reduce their own payouts and offering lower rates to employers who monitor workers' vitals in every way the US Sup. Court will allow.
The assumption that drug use==bad worker is only superficial--employers will gladly help abrogade our rights when the bottom line is affected, and the assumption that drug use==unsafe drives insurance companies' lower premiums for employers who test. I expect biometric monitoring technology to follow the same route.
I believe you're rather missing the point that folks are trying to make.
This would be nothing more than a moderately interesting footnote if we were talking about specialty positions where real-time health monitoring in situ might make sense, based upon unusual job circumstances.
Unfortunately, that's not what's being discussed.
The article places this in the context of mainstream -- as in everyday -- jobs.
Think "generic hapless office worker spied on by Information Retrieval in Brazil ", not "most inconveniently expired engineer from Runaway Train"...
In terms of everyday jobs, I seriously think it unlikely that anything good would come of this, while I can easily see much that is bad being fairly likely.
Aphorisms don't fix code. (Bart Smaalders)
Isn't this just a hyped up version of what we've already heard about? Aren't they just developing these systems for use in usability testing? There was something on /. just a short while back about it - although I'm too lazy to look it up. Maybe the editors have Alzheimer's...
You are using English. Please learn the difference between loose and lose; they're, there, and their; your and you're.
http://www.askenterprises.net/
Got a mouse that tries to bio-feedback ya. With the same kind of stated 'goals' of MS's "patent"
A ridiculous idea which will come to fruition, at least in America, due to our lack of freedom. Yes lack of Freedom. Your debt makes you a slave and subject to impositions like the technology proposed.
I can use software that watches me. For one, I would know that something in this universe actually loves me, and if it knows what kind of help I need, that's more than I know.
Know your pads. One time pad: good for cryptography. Two timing pad: where to take your mistress.
Hmmmm...
So essentially, our jobs are about to become a live-action game of Paranoia?
Neat! *charges his laser*
[End Of Line]
Dude, you can get the beta hardware already... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-meter.
Of course getting ahold of one of these tends to cost alot of money...
I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask where they're goin' and hook up with 'em later.
"But then the article goes on (paragraph 3):
Technology allowing constant monitoring of workers was previously limited to pilots, firefighters and Nasa astronauts. This is believed to be the first time a company has proposed developing such software for mainstream workplaces."
Oo! Oo! Oo! No it isn't! Doesn't anyone remember the Yes Men? They did a wearable version of this. Check it out:
http://www.theyesmen.org/hijinks/tampere/
The movie will amaze and impress you.
in their employees being unimpaired in jobs directly affecting public safety can be met with performance testing.
A performance test measures "speed of reaction, vigilance and discrimination". It also doesn't care whether an employee is impaired because of illegal drugs, prescription drugs, OTC meds, alcohol, or lack of sleep.
Neither do I if the impaired person is going to fly a plane I'm going to be a paseanger of.
Drug testing is about lifestyle control by employers, not about protecting public safety.
Tech Public Policy stuff
What an employee does off the job is his own business. If his off-the-job behavior impairs his workplace performance, then the employer has the right to do something about it.
What else do you think comes within an "employer's right to know"? Does the employer have the right to know if a potential employee is gay? Muslim? A Democrat? A non-vegetarian?
If you believe that you as an employee have no civil rights and no right to personal privacy, you have a right to your opinion.
Even if rational people think that you're full of horseshit.
Enjoy your piss tests. . . you do, don't you?
Tech Public Policy stuff
management position in any of the algae to biofuel startups being built up now. Based on your posting, I've got an idea what your idea of "common sense and discretion" is and I'd really like to have you working for one of my competitors, given that I plan to go into the business.
Tech Public Policy stuff