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Comcast Launches New 24/7 Workplace Surveillance Service (philly.com)
America's largest ISP just rolled out a new service that allows small and medium-sized business owners "to oversee their organization" with continuous video surveillance footage that's stored in the cloud -- allowing them to "improve efficiency." An anonymous reader quotes the Philadelphia Inquirer:
Inventory is disappearing. Workplace productivity is off. He said/she said office politics are driving people crazy. Who you gonna call...? Comcast Business hopes it will be the one, with the "SmartOffice" surveillance offering formally launched this week in Philadelphia and across "70 percent of our national [internet] service footprint," said Christian Nascimento, executive director of premise services for the Comcast division. Putting a "Smart Cities" (rather than "Big Brother is watching you") spin on "the growing trend for...connected devices across the private and public sectors," the SmartOffice solution "can provide video surveillance to organizations that want to monitor their locations more closely," Nascimento said...
The surveillance cameras are equipped with zoom lenses, night-vision, motion detection, and wide-angle lenses, while an app allows remote access to the footage from smartphones and tablets (though the footage can also be downloaded, or stored online for up to a month). Last year Comcast was heavily involved in an effort to provide Detroit's police department with real-time video feeds from over 120 local businesses, which the mayor said wouldn't have been successful "Without the complete video technology system Comcast provides."
The surveillance cameras are equipped with zoom lenses, night-vision, motion detection, and wide-angle lenses, while an app allows remote access to the footage from smartphones and tablets (though the footage can also be downloaded, or stored online for up to a month). Last year Comcast was heavily involved in an effort to provide Detroit's police department with real-time video feeds from over 120 local businesses, which the mayor said wouldn't have been successful "Without the complete video technology system Comcast provides."
The workers must rule.
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Personally I like the German approach better. No logging. None. We have swipe cards to enter the building for security reasons, when it was found that the timestamps of those cards were logged there was a huge stink about it even though as best anyone could tell no one actually ever accessed the logs. Employers are simply not allowed to monitor employees.
Now that can go too far as well since that inhibits our ability to improve processes and makes incident investigation very difficult, but it's a shitload better than what is being proposed here.
also have maximum security...or at least the max affordable
Drag them onto the street
And keep dragging until there's *nothing left*.
This is completely unacceptable, unethical, immoral, and it cannot be allowed to spread.
In addition to the new "Big Brother know best" observation system, the beatings will continue until morale improves.
does the equipment have outlet / renting fees? Knowing Comcast they may just do that + lock you into a 2-3 year deal as well.
high definition is now only 720p at comcast! I can buy my own 1080P ones for under $100 each.
Are they trying to win some kind of evil award of something?
to pay for lights, the nightvision sounds attractive to my employer. It sucks working Seattle Hundreds (16 hours a day Mon-Thur and 12 hours a day Fri-Sun) in a dim office.
Too many employers in Seattle think we can live with dim offices since it isn't bright outside.
And you will need to rent Comcast internet hardware to make use of this. Yes if you want comcast business internet static ip you must rent there gateway on top of the static ip fee.
At my company everyone (including former remote employees) just sit at team tables. We take all breaks (including bathroom breaks) together, and always go to lunch together. I really doubt we need such a service.
I work with a bunch of right wingers that flip out over stuff like this, but if the government contacted us about doing contract camera installs in people's bedrooms, they would be sitting around working on quotes and figuring up profit margins and commissions. I guess we all have our price.
Doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, religion destroys spirituality
Just think... Having video of all your trade secrets spilled out to some anonymous site including audio when the hack the camera to enable it.
we have to monitor & punish ourselves? we choose harsher penalties for others for the same 'offense'.. cease fire stand down,, our imaginary secrets are not in jeopardy? most of the fear based overkill disinformation is drummed up on madison ave.? sing along.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-kA3UtBj4M
Does the bandwidth used by uploading and downloading video count against any of your data caps or ratings? If not, would similar video streams from a competing service count?
When Leadership fails, buy this product!
Too bad it isn't to upgrade the infrastructure for the cash cow of residential customers. It's to build out a system for a solution in search of a problem.
The more you know.
Seattle is almost 300 miles farther north than Toronto. You are getting what you deserve.
You'll be put on hold for 45 minutes listening to Barry Manilow music, followed by a transfer to Comcast India where "Joe" will interview you, and, because you have been such a valuable customer, inform you that Comcast is willing to give you three months of employee lip-reading transcriptions on a complimentary basis.
I mean, if you've got full surveillance of the workplace, then a camera can be looking at you keyboard as you type the password.
So what do you do instead of passwords? Biometrics? Some kind of plug-in token? Does Comcast get the business for your conversion of that too?
Or are the employees supposed to hunch over and shield the keyboard with their bodies when typing in passwords?
Who's taking bets on how long before some company is seriously compromised by this?
A thousand pounds of wood moving at 300 feet per minute. Don't get in the way.
So now we have a level of people who spend all their time watching other people working (or faking it), but the obvious new job opportunity is to get a job watching the guys who are watching the other guys.
It's the ultimate in job security, because they'll always need to hire someone at the next level up!
Unbounded recursion? Resources exhausted? Whatever do you mean?
Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
They usually want point of sale integration too - so they can look at "no sale" cash drawer openings.
Nullius in verba
I hope Comcast sneaks in using the video for commercial purposes.
A whole lot of footage for new fail videos.
About 30 years ago, a former NSA employee told me that soon employers would have cameras pointed at all their workers and keystroke monitors in place to make sure the workers were not slacking off.
I told him that if they did that to me, they would see me working and typing good clean code while I would spend every day on the beach.
Nothing has changed. The more you depend on technology like this rather than just hiring good people to begin with, the more problems you will have.
As long as I'm one of the elite classes that tells the others what to do.
Trump sure managed to deliver on all of his Obamacare promises! His Presidency is proceeding as expected. He's a joke and his voters are the punchline. 2018 and 2020 don't bode well for the Teaturds.
This just seems like intentional flame bait to smear socialism altogether. Pick those known for leading the formation of the totalitarian Soviet Union as inspiration in your call for rebellion against workplace surveillance. How about we aim for something that doesn't replace one form of authoritarianism for another?
... I.C.U.
.. they've been testing it for years with your smart TVs, laptops, webcams, and IP cameras.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo6cexQj7Yo&t=168s
Hire me! Hire me!
I love hard work!
I could watch it all day!
But seriously folks, I mostly enjoyed my work and didn't even want to retire when the big three-letter-company was done with me. Looking at the developing situation, now I think I got out just in time.
Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
We can use this facility for police bodycams, right? You know, the ones that seem to consistently "lose" footage at convenient (critical) times?
So it's not about businesses using intrusive technology to enforce time and asset management. It's about police increasing surveillance and push-button policing while businesses socialize their time and asset management expenses.
I would worry about the authentication of the cameras and stored video. It looks like a way for creepers to watch people or worse if done poorly
This just reeks of micromanagement.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
Period. And Comcast can go fuck themselves.
Productivity is at an all-time high. This is one reason why people can't find jobs: work that used to take several people is now being done by one, and that one suffers in silence just glad to have a job. And they can see the line of applicants at the door.
So what crack is Comcast smoking? Maybe their cameras can tell them where to get it.
Here's the thing: any business desperately threatened without cameras A) already knows it, and B) almost certainly already has cameras in place. Cameras have been cheap for a while and easy to setup and monitor. Anyone who wants to go nuts putting in cameras can do so, and watch them from across the globe.
The problem is, all the cameras you can install have not stopped shrinkage (employee theft) or really stopped other crimes, and there is scant evidence they have encouraged people to work harder. Everybody who wants to steal figures out ways to do it that the cameras can't see. And people who goof off or whatever will always goof off.
And if you really DO install cameras and follow what Comcast suggests for doing live remote monitoring or storing footage online and so forth, exactly WHO is going to watch all of this amazing footage? In most offices or businesses, nobody has time to be a camera operator. And the regular managers already have jobs, managing, and when they go home, they don't want to sit there having to watch cameras.
So Comcast is selling a solution for a problem that they cannot actually fix, and instead of improving productivity as they claim, it really means some sucker will have to endure watching hours of nothing trying desperately to find something exciting worthy of Youtube if not LiveLeak, and for 99%+ of of these cameras, they will see nothing at all.
But hey Comcast can charge them big $$ for it. Every month. Promising something exciting will happen and Comcast will be there to help you see it!
BULLSHIT
Sig for hire.
I'm a little surprised that they didn't form a new division and give it a different name for this product. I don't think that the "we surveil people for money" notion is going to help their cable internet business. Granted, much of that is in locations where they have a monopoly, but still. Now if municipalities want to fight with them they can say "regardless of whether they're spying on non-business customers, too many of our community members are convinced that they do - we have to provide a municipal alternative for their peace of mind."
I know the perfect place to implement this service: The White House. I'm sure the American people would like to ensure that they are getting the highest levels of productivity there...
Seattle is a mere 46 deg N
London is 51 deg N
Edinburgh is 55.9 deg N (400 miles N of London)
We don't have the 'Seattle disease' here. If anything, the offices are far too brightly lit.
Don't complain about the high lattitude of US cities unless they are in Alaska.
I'd rather be riding my '63 Triumph T120.
An absolutely huge benefit for sole proprietorships with no employees. Now i'll be able to find where the hell i put my car keys MUCH easier.
Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. See also: NAZI's
Don't be a dick. You ought to know as an adult with access to a worldwide internet that Seattle does have a reputation for gloominess and overcast weather that outpaces anything the tiny and shrinkingly relevant UK has.
i.e. Google. I feel compelled to mention this since other commenters don't seem to know. Google installed video cameras to watch pretty much every part of the offices, including over desks since the spring of 2014 (in the NY office), and I saw the same when I worked in the Bay Area offices more recently as well. As I remember Spring 2014, it was just after the first google-powered android watches came out, which they gave employees as a Christmas present, and I thought the whole thing was pretty spooky -- cameras watching us, plus free watches that were encouraged to be used (lots of data can be gathered from watches). In 2015 I remarked on the cameras to a friend (Salesforce employee) and he said surely that's illegal? But no, they've been doing it for years, and so Comcast can claim hey, one of the "best places to work" already offers this and people don't complain.
cameras with microphones in the ceiling that covered the whole workspace, as managers we were allowed into the office for 45 mins in morning and at end of day for paperwork and email correspondence, otherwise the office was supposed to be empty with everyone doing field work. South Carolina is one of those wonderful "work at will" states, so I willed myself to work elsewhere....
I see a lot of people putting the "big brother" spin on this and talking about watching employees. I certainly agree that watching your employees' every move accomplishes nothing.
On the other hand, if you run a business like a gas station, convenience store, fast food restaurant, etc then watching the public areas and the outside of business with cameras is a good idea. As for who monitors the footage, that's simple: there's no need to monitor it 24/7. Just review it when you need to (ie if something happened).
Normally, I'd happily jump on the Comcast bashing train. But as they like to tout, their ability to put together a turnkey solution has helped attract more business to the Green Light program here in Detroit. There are other components to the program besides the surveillance (ie increased lighting, and visible signage that they are a part of the program). All together, it makes customers feel safer at their business, and discourages troublemakers.
Some people are put off by the additional surveillance and the idea that the police can see them, but others like the feeling of safety and are more willing to stop in an area where they might not otherwise. Speaking with various police officers in my area, they have admitted that while some businesses experience small drop in customers initially, things usually rebound as the businesses attract a better class of customer.
In Detroit, even with the cameras feeding to police headquarters, it isn't a 24/7 big brother scenario. Let's face it, everyone has better things to do, including the police. They're not scrutinizing the footage for every person who jaywalks or litters or "forgot" to renew their license plate. However, if something does happen at a Green Light location, the police are able to quickly access footage (and view it in realtime if the incident is still occurring) and the outcome is typically a lot better.
Imagine two scenarios:
Scenario A:
Someone is robbed at a gas station in the middle of the night. When the police arrive, all they have is the description of a person or vehicle from the victim which may not be very accurate. The next morning, the police are able to get ahold of the owner of the station and have him pull the security footage. Assuming it's even usable (ie good quality, good lighting/nigh vision), by the time the police get it the perpetrator is long gone.
Scenario B:
Someone is robbed at a gas station in the middle of the night. As the squad car is being dispatched, someone at police headquarters is able to access high-quality footage of the incident and provide a reliable description of the perpetrator and/or their vehicle to the responding officers and other officers in the area. An officer notices someone matching the description walking a few blocks from where the incident happened, stops them, and is able to make an arrest before they've had hours or days to disappear.
Just calm the fuck down. This isn't some new draconian invention. It's just a plain old security camera system like you'd find around many business, warehouses, retail stores...
The "difference" here is that, thanks to Comacast, it's really very expensive. The camera's are expensive, the installation is expensive... They've also replaced the onsite DVR of most systems with their cloud storage offering, which makes is ridiculously expensive. That cloud storage will also conveniently require higher/more bandwidth, from Comcast. Clearly, it's a win win. For Comcast, anyway.
This is just a security camera system. SO, calm your tits. Besides, it's so expensive that the uptake on this offering is almost certainly going to be so low that they'll discontinue the package within a year.
Since you're basically asking for more government intervention (stronger privacy laws) to government style takeovers (e.g. Communism).
Yeah, I'm baiting you. But I'm doing it because I'm annoyed that you're instantly equating something you don't like (being monitored by a private company you work for) with something else you don't like (government telling you to do things you don't want to do).
It's something I see a _lot_ here in America. Folks are all for Government doing the things they want but if it's something their opposed to (Gun Control, Abortion legislation/regulation, paying your taxes so folks can have clean water, take your pick) they cry out oppression and demand somebody cut, cut cut that evil bureaucracy. It's hypocritical and it's one of the reasons why we can't have Nice Things (tm).
Basically, everybody wants government on their side but as soon as they have to pony up tax dollars to make it work for somebody else they're all being oppressed.
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I care about productivity. It's easy enough to measure that and if this works, businesses will do it. In the few places where there's competition for workers left you won't see this crap, but for us rank and file we'll suck it down. Especially as outsourcing, H1-Bs and automation devour job opportunities in a world where quality of life is increasingly tied to your job.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
This pissed me off as well. I had bought the exact same modem that they rent online and they refused to give me a static IP unless I rented the modem from them. So I sucked it up and bought the modem from them and they refused to give me a static IP unless I rented the modem from them. (Allegedly, because they can't control the modem unless it's theirs, which is bunk because they have full control over the modem whether you rent or buy it.)
file an fcc complaint.
But with trump that may not do any thing.
I was at a company that did this, and it just made the managers lazy dictatorial shits that thought they could manage by snooping. Funny part is after I left a manager got caught running a scam that netted 7 figures over 10 years. The surveillance never helped them catch that. It really just made everything worse and everyone antagonistic and shallow and actively undermining. You would get railed on for stupid deviations while the real criminals would sail. Big bosses LOVE the idea big brother style overseeing, it's no different anywhere. you can treat humans like ants, but the humans are going to burn your house down one day.
This is the perfect example of how human workers will be eventually replaced by robots.
A robot can be trusted 100%. They will force all human workers to quit.
There will be a surveillance society or a robot society. Choose your fate, humans.
Comcast CEO found to be doing NSFW activities in office by Workplace Surveillance
Comcast Cancelled Workplace Surveillance services
Entering beta testing in 2018; employees will be automatically given negative feedback by embedded AI, based on their recorded behavioral profile, using modified Taser technology.
Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.
We currently lease cameras and a server from a vendor that specializes in security cameras/recording. While the summary goes off the rails into conspiracy theory territory, the reality is the cameras are used for insurance purposes to monitor multi-hundred thousands of dollar equipment, areas where semi-trucks navigate on the property, and general exterior security for theft/vandalism deterrence. The only cameras that are monitored live are the ones that keep an eye on the semi-trucks so that we don't have trucks idling waiting to be loaded/unloaded (time is money for all involved). The rest of the cameras get recorded and called back as needed. In the past year I have had a grand total of 4 requests for video footage. 1 request due to vandalism on a property, and 3 requests related to damage to equipment that needed to be reviewed for insurance purposes. The only problem I see with Comcast offering this service is that mean all the cameras then have to connected to the Internet and rely on Outbound bandwidth which is limited to begin with. We can barely get 3FPS from cameras off-site over our current Comcast service to the location that has the server.