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New Phone Allows Bosses To Snoop On Staff
tad001 writes "The Japanese phone giant KDDI has developed a way to track users' movements in fine detail. It works by analyzing the movement of accelerometers, found in many handsets. Activities such as walking, climbing stairs, or even cleaning can be identified, the researchers say. The company plans to sell the service to clients such as managers, foremen, and employment agencies."
My boss just came into my office and told me to get the hell off of Slashdot and get back to work!
See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
I would have it turned off most of the time.
You make the mistake of thinking you can educate the fundamental stupidity out of people. You can't.
While this sounds like a great idea, it's going to be quietly retired after someone manages to match up the boss's "cleaning" activities with those of anyone else in the company.
"Wow, look how perfectly these accelerations overlay!"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8559683.stm is a link to the article, rather than just the BBC
Oh boy, so my boss can tell if I'm leaning or cleaning. I anticipate a spike in workplace injuries and stress related ailments and a general decline in the quality of the work of all manual laborers on whom this technology is used, unless and until managers learn how NOT to use it. Good thing so many states have at-will employment and so few such workers have unions or health insurance, or this could cost a FORTUNE when it hits the US.
Strap the phone to a stray dog/cat/rat/monkey and let 'em follow that!
i dont see this taking off, next.
he who controls the spice controls the universe
Wait until they make one of these for schools to use to spy on kids in their homes...
The accelerometer clearly shows me working when this one fell too. I suppose you will have to assign me another one. Well, I'm a team player sir, you can just get me a cheap phone for work use since I seem to be so hard on them.
My Phone always sits on my desk not moving much at all.
. .
I am SO swinging that phone from the rooftop... Let them figure that one out! Or tossing it across the road to a friend on the other side. Yes boss, as a matter of fact I can fly!
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
The Pennsylvania school district announces that they plan to end their controversial laptop policy and give harmless cell phones to their students to make up for spying on them.
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
until we get the wonderful Dark Knight "sonar" technology.
Track that you nosey idiots. Unless they're going to stipulate that all employees must WEAR their phones.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
Handle the phone like MJ handled babies, they wouldn't know WHAT to expect.
I'm working on something for exactly the same purpose as them .. now I don't know if to continue or scrap it.
Divide a cake by zero. Is it still a cake?
But only so I could tape it to a weasel and let it lose in the air ducts.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
Bucking Shullfit.
If my boss wants to buy this phone, great. They've just given me a big neon flashing sign warning me that they're a control freak. I can now either move to a different department or start looking for a new job.
I'd rather have obvious signs I can't miss that my boss likes to create a hostile work environment, rather than subtle signs I might miss at first. The more blatant they are, the better.
Say you wanted scary, "big-brother" like powers to assist you with your micro-management.
There's an app for that.
Leave the phone on the desk: you don't need it in the toilet.
Maybe Computers will never be as intelligent as Humans.
For sure they won't ever become so stupid. [VR-1988]
Hell if you're going to treat us like livestock, just go all out! How about microchips and ear tags! Maybe the company logo branded on your body.
If I had a boss that tried to make his workers use something like this, I'd quit my job.
At the moment you can buy a horrifically expensive option board for some radios that does exactly this. That way you can tell if the HT that is supposed to be clipped to your security guard's belt as he walks around your bonded warehouse has suddenly gone horizontal. Another application is in shopping centres where it's pretty handy to be able to track where cleaners and security guards are - and have been in the past. Why? Nosiness? Spying? No.
Mouth-breathing Chav Scum: "ZOMG I SLIPPED AND FELL OVER ON THAT DROPPED ICE CREAM CONE THERE! THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN CLEARED UP STRAIGHT AWAY! I'M GONNA SUUUUUUUUEEE!!!"
You: "Well, let's see, the cleaner went past there three minutes ago, so it can't have been like that for long."
MBCS: "But... But... Butt..."
or alternatively:
You: "Right, who's doing the guard tour, oh it's Wee Wullie. That's funny, he's been standing at the same bit for a couple of minutes now, moving around quite a lot though. Wonder if everything's okay?"
<clicky on CCTV console>
You: "Aha, righty. Let's send Big Davie down to give him some 'assistance' there..."
There's an app for that. I mean, seriously. It's called demagnetizing the accelerometer. This basically allows it to either remain at zero, or points within 0 indicating little to no movement. Sort of like your typical EA programmer.
No, that's all right, we'll just deduct the replacement cost from your pay. That will help teach you to be more responsible with company property.
Seriously, who's the marketing genius and why isn't he fired yet?
Can't you forsee what's going to happen? Unions will be all over it, key employees will complain and go ballistic over it, threatening to quit if they're not let off the leash.
Solution: Market it to overprotective parents. Kids have neither unions nor can they quit their parents.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
1. Strap a vibrator onto the phone.
2. Hang it on a pendulum and use a blutooth to use it.
3. Leave it on a speaker
4. Use an iPhone that doesn't parrallel process.
I would tie it to my cat. Let them figure that one out.
Being a boss is easy, there are only two kind of employees. Lazy ones, who will slack of any chance they get and perform at best at a level just above firing, and good employees who take pride in their job.
It will cost a fortune to turn a lazy one into a good one. It will save you money to turn a good one into a lazy one, in the short term. It is easy, just keep cutting benefits, breaks, perks and up the work load while micro-managing them to hell.
But most managers/bosses feel they need to earn their keep by showing they are making the people work the hardest. If you spend the money of those kind of managers and their bag of tricks on salary, you would be able to hire the absolute best and have people fighting to stay with your company. Go ahead, offer a cleaner 50% above average wage. No problems filling vacancies, no need to watch their every move and you get motivated employees who got a reason not to exchange you the moment they a chance. Because even cleaning staff builds up a lot of knowledge you can't easily replace with the Xth temp because your turn-over rate is 100%.
By all means, you go tech to try to manage those who can only earn the lowest wages, I pay a bit more and get the cream. In the end, I know who is more efficient.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
That quickie in the work closet just got a lot harder.
...one great step for Big Brother...
Yam, yam, uga booga, yam, yam, yade, yade, uga booga, yam, yam, yade, yade
I wonder how robust those accelerometers are. It occurs to me that it might be possible to permanently screw it up by bribing a construction worker to duct-tape your phone to his jack-hammer for a day...
Sure I was at work, just track the phone and you will see that I was at my desk all day.
And even more, I am sure TV shows like CSI will never be the same as people are proven to be at work all the time and thus could NEVER have been anywere else.
Joking aside: I understand why they would do it. People who are snooped upon and treadend to be fired will be more productive. I know because I asked this at work and fired thee first person who did not answer the question to my liking. Although he was the first person anwering the questions in the group, he was also the only one. The rest of the people agreed with me.
Management by terror: it is the only option!
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
A few years back, the Iditarod added GPS trackers to some of the top drivers sleds so their position and speed could be displayed to users who subscribed to the 'Iditarod Insider' service. One of the guys wasn't too happy about this and gave his tracker to one of the supply aircraft...Lookie... is now going 150 mph, in the wrong direction, at 3000' agl...awesome dog team!
Actually, the experiment went over really well with those who follow the race so this year everyone got a tracker. It's pretty cool to be able to see how everyone is doing in real time. The mushers don't have access to the data so they're still going cross country using old school technology (eyes and brain).
As a Brit working for an American company, all I can say is that all my boss cares about is that he has a pretty graph at the end of each week, month & quarter that shows me and his other guys are utilised as highly as possible and making money for the company.
He's a decent American bloke but constantly stressed out by the managers above him and I wouldn't do his job for all the tea in China (or coffee in Starbucks). Plus he doesn't have either the time or inclination to check up on me any more than he does currently (once a week at most).
If you do work for a company that has managers needing to do this level of granular "surveillance" of staff then it's time to get another job - because if they're going to those depths then they're probably going to get rid of you anyway....
Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
OK, I guess we're all against the potentially creepy applications of this.
But could there be useful ones? Most people carry cell phones, could this be used to monitor people with known history of health problems, such as heart disease, or the elderly?
If my cell phone detected that I'd just had a stroke, or that one of my parents had just had a fall, and was unconscious at the bottom of a staircase, and informed the emergency services, then that would be the kind of intrusion that I could accept.
Thought not - funny that.
I'm thinking that it would be hard to snoop on IT workers this way. Unless the phone is moving when it shouldn't.
This is ideal though for cleaning contractors who need to make sure their cleaners are cleaning and not just leaving the vacuum cleaner on.
Because you always need a smart fox!
Here's some study material.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uV8boXLV0ik&feature=related
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
...to patent my new design for the "Feline Cellphone Backpack"!
Imagine this is your boss's office as he tracks you on his computer screen:
"Okay, so he's just gone out through his kitchen door... he's climbing the fence into his neighbour's garden... now he's squatting down in their rose bed???"
Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
... my boss just asked me how my interview went.
Then why did you hire them.
Bil Keane has been using this on Billy since 1962!
http://www.chamotlabs.com/Images/Paths.jpg
Yes, I'm serious. I really do think "teh evil government" should poke their dirty fingers in the pie and make a law that forbids employers to monitor their employees in this way.
Why? After all, we have a freedom of contract. If you don't want to work there, just don't take the job, right?
Trouble is, after a while a significant share of all companies might require you to carry around a cellphone they can track. If you keep saying no to signing such contracts, your options will become more and more limited. In the end you might have no choice but to accept an unacceptable measure, or end up with no job at all.
Just because it's voluntary doesn't mean you have a choice.
This is easy... Ship your phone to yourself everynight via fedex. Alternate between Fedex, UPS, USPS, and DHL. Post pictures of different women & children around your cube (diversity is important). Recharge your phone every day.