Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Wants To Monitor Your Workplace With AI, Computer Vision and the Cloud (gizmodo.com)
"If you're an employee under the heel of a giant corporation you should probably be terrified by the vision of the future of connected gadgets that Microsoft just revealed at its Build developer conference here in Seattle," warns Gizmodo. Slashdot reader dryriver writes:
Gizmodo reports on a Microsoft Workplace Monitoring demo where CCTV cameras watch a workplace -- like a construction site -- on 24/7 basis, and AI algorithms constantly oversee and evaluate what is happening in that workplace. The system can track where employees are, where physical equipment and tools are at what time, who does what at what time in this workplace and apparently use Cloud-based AI of some sort to evaluate what is happening in the workplace being monitored. Spotting employees misbehaving, breaking workplace rules or putting themselves and expensive equipment at risk may be the intended "value proposition" this system brings to the workplace. Another aspect may be reducing insurance premiums employers pay by creating a strict, highly monitored work environment. But the system is also very Big Brother -- an AI is monitoring people and equipment in a workplace in realtime at all times, and all the data ends up being processed in the Microsoft Cloud.
Gizmodo gave their article the title, "Microsoft's Latest Workplace Tech Demos Creep Me Out."
Gizmodo gave their article the title, "Microsoft's Latest Workplace Tech Demos Creep Me Out."
Can't wait for this to become compulsory and industry standard. Just what the cube farm needed more discomfort!
Giving up your privacy is ok, as long as it does not involve Microsoft.
Asking consumers to give their data to a big faceless corporation like Google so it can sell ads is one thing—but asking them to also give all that data to the people who sign their checks is another.
lucm, indeed.
Wonder if Microsoft has implemented this software on their own premises? Given Microsoft's track record, how long will it take some hacker to mess with the AI and gets some company on the hook for wrongful termination based on erroneous data?
Captcha: captive
Technology was supposed to make our lives easier and free us. How come with every advance, it feels more like oppression?
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
Because of course, Microsoft will have absolutely perfect security, preventing any and all attempts to hack in and steal it.
You can absolutely trust them. So feel fine recording everything your employees do, allowing your competitors to buy the videos. Microsoft of course will try their very best to protect your company's most important data.
They will even refund the money you pay them after you lose millions. If you can figure out what happened.
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
to make the technology mandatory in the workplace. After all, the necessity of tracking everyone and everything, every piece of equipment, logging when the most menial task is accomplished or when employees are not being 100% productive will be necessary when the logs are used by the corporate bean counters to justify their own positions. On second thought... if it eliminates bean counters, it's a good thing.
Almost seriously, if you could log and maintain all that data (on a Microsoft cloud of course, we'll have none of that pesky internal IT overhead) think of the possibilities for litigating EVERYTHING. If not legislated mandatory, the technology will become the de facto standard by way of defending against and bringing of legal suits. Of course Microsoft will reserve the right to mine all the data stored on their cloud for 'quality assurance' purposes. Sounds like some corporate execs wet dream right there.
Knowing MS, it will be a subscription based system. It will also likely run afoul of multiple privacy laws. The lawsuits are already waiting for it's deploymemt.
When they're scratching their heads over why no one wants to work for XYZ Corp, then realize it's costing them more than it's saving, they'll rip the entire system out anyway.
There are pretty strict limits on monitoring employees in Europe. These are not merely in place to protect human rights. As it turns out, employees monitored permanently are under more significantly stress, perform worse, make more mistakes, have more sick days and have about zero loyalty to their employer. Pretty much the same reason why slave-labor is usually of low quality, quality too low for modern jobs.
As is typical for them, a Microsoft "innovation" makes things worse for everybody. Microsoft just does not have it. They are fundamentally lacking any understanding of how the world actually works. No surprise for a company that owes the single reason why they are big to a historical accident.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Management needs to remain mindful of the fact that the company will lose value when they cannot find employees willing to work for a company where there is no trust relationship between the workers and management.
Spying them in toilets?
A high fraction of businesses especially small and medium businesses give all of their employee's data to Google, even personnel records and other private information.
Back 10-15 years ago, Microsoft had a reputation for getting their products into businesses seen as having Microsoft-resistant tech folks by completely bypassing those tech folks... wining and dining VPs or even the CEO, who then mandated that the company was going to implement Exchange (or whatever). This just seems like a variant of that older playbook.
#DeleteChrome
Wait, this is Microsoft. So all you have to do is hack it to make it look like you are the perfect employee and go back to regular business.
The ironic thing about this demo was that Satya Nadella's keynote preceded it, in which he spoke of the need for tech companies to be responsible with technology and avoid 1984 from coming true (they even showed a copy of 1984 on the screen).
Monitored and evaluated by a computer every minute of the workday, sounds like fucking paradise.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
No kidding! Just imagine how much worse it would be under Clinton! Really dodged a bullet, there.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
said that this kind of monitoring is illegal in my country (Italy), when I hear this kind of proposal I feel a compulsive need of revolt...
I remember in the 80es or 90es, when there was yet another craze for the latest fad in 'efficiency', and some people had to clock in and -out to go to a break or the toilet. Imagine the surprise, when it turned out that people don't thrive when they feel they are not trusted to do their job well, and productivity fell. Perhaps this will catch on in management circles, for a while, but it will fizzle out in the end, because it will cost money and it will harm productivity.
to work getting done. a massive amount of control would mean gross inefficiency because nobody is allowed to figure anything out or use common sense gained by experience.
often times in the places i work, bosses are some of the most incompetent people, who understand very little about the core business function, but are just really good at buttlicking.
Monitoring, monitoring, eggs, beans and monitoring. That hasn't got much monitoring in it.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Yeh, dodged a bullet that was always a bunch of propaganda lies of the deluded right, by leaping into the line of fire from a true 30mm cannon, made in Russia.
Yeah, everyone would probably be forced to wear red pantsuits.
The horror.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Have gnu, will travel.
But, but this was about monitoring objects like tools and wheel chairs. Voice driven search engine for the reality it is. Tempting is the dark side, employers. But stronger it is not.
That whole citizen emancipation BS was a lie sold to gullible hippies back in the day and has now been swallowed wholesale by a credulous Millennial generation who happily sell their privacy down the river for some cheap virtual baubles. By the time they wise up and realise what they've done it'll be too late. Old head, young shoulders - never happens.
Even Oprah? EGADS! We're doomed! DOOOOOMED!
*Drop the bomb. Exterminate them all*
My old employer sold its sould to MS last year. I fully expect those employees left (after outsourcing it all to an Indian Company NIIT) will soon be tracked with Piece of Dogshite.
Indeed, the BORG is with us.
Do people really think that they will put up with this surveillance 24/7? At home, at the movies with the family? Well it will track you if you carry any workplace issued kit (eg a phone) with you.
Fuck no! MS can go take a dump for all I care. I am so glad that I got rid of all my Windows systems.
Phew!
I'd rather be riding my '63 Triumph T120.
Ohhh, if only we could roll back the clock to 1986 and rescue CP/M out of the dumpster!
Saying they 'lack understanding' is quite a leap. You have no idea of their intentions. And 'accident' or not, they parlayed it pretty damn well. We really don't have much room to complain. There always seems to be a preference for the inferior method in many human endeavors, political, economic, and tech... And there are people that bet on it, and win
We saw the demo in the online conference. We joked it would announce, "Fred is picking his nose in cubicle 47, which is a violation of health and safety guidelines! Fred will be escorted out..."
Table-ized A.I.
Excellent post. The thinking behind what microsoft is promoting here was debunked more than 50 years ago. Very bad medicine for a workplace.
IN SOVIET RUSSIA, true 30mm cannon leaps into the fire of YOU!
Yeh, dodged a bullet that was always a bunch of propaganda lies of the deluded right, by leaping into the line of fire from a true 30mm cannon, made in Russia.
Yes, but at least it will be a reliable macho cannon that will kill you dead, not some soft liberal cannon that will just try to persuade you not to gratuitously attack random "trans", "bifocal" or "monosaturated" people for no good reason. Lucky escape there. Anything could happen if people suddenly stopped hating other people for no reason. Can't have that.
Should concentrate on bug free software instead!
As it turns out, employees monitored permanently are under more significantly stress, perform worse, make more mistakes, have more sick days and have about zero loyalty to their employer.
That's really the important point here. Draconian management may extract a little more productivity in the short run (maybe) but end up with malicious compliance, employees who do the bare minimum, and spend as much time figuring ways around the system as they do actually producing. And, as mentioned, zero loyalty. That type of management responds by cracking down even more, and productivity drops further.
Treating people decently actually works. But that isn't exactly what's taught in MBA programs.
IANAL, but there is a reason why any sane company has record retention policies and other deliberate forms of 'blinders'.
..." 'Ding! Not certified for railing installation'. 'Ding! Load overhead! Ding welding arc exposure! Ding! Ding! Ding! ....'
Once you begin to observe and collect some stream of information, it doesn't reduce your exposure, it might actually increase it. I can already see attorney's salivating at the opportunity for discovery. Nobody does anything perfect 100% of the time, and it is not uncommon for safety rules to conflict with one another, or actually have to break a rule to rectify an emergent and immediately dangerous situation. The equity considerations are enormous also - if an employee were fired or disciplined for 'X', their attorney could simply ask to see all examples of 'X' that occurred previously, and if the dispositions of those cases were identical. Or how about the qualifications and certification of the person that wrote those business rules in the first place. 'Ding! You are standing on the edge of a ditch!" "I am INSTALLING a railing to prevent people from falling in a ditch
I seriously doubt that the image recognition would function in an actual construction site. My Saws All is currently covered in sheet rock dust and is practically invisible. The visual noise environment is incredible - piles or random sized off cut, dust, lighting conditions which change minute by minute as work lights move, view fields blocked by staged materials, wind blowing sheet plastic, cords and lines criss-crossing, paint-overspray, reflections off glass shards and sheet metal scraps, on and on. I found their 'stage' fairly amusing, even a retail location doesn't have things arranged so neatly.
You basically create an enormous red light camera situation, where people slam on their breaks, accelerate unnecessarily, pay attention to the light and walk signal counters instead of actually driving - i.e. people alter their behaviors to fit being observed and issued a violation, not optimizing safety.
The aviation industry incident reporting system has a proven loop which actually improves safety - because it is distributed, anonymous, pervasive.
It adds nothing to actual safety - it's like a home alarm going off after the crooks are long gone.
That we will all be losing our jobs due to AI/Robotics anyway.
CP/M? The UNIX family was created in 1969 and is again the Nr 1 OS in the world these days, and that is for good reason. You seem to be lacking in knowledge of computing history. And even MULTICS, continually developed for the intermediate time would have blown anything away that MS ever had or ever will have.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Thanks.
Incidentally, the 5-day 8-hour work-week was identified as the best for overall productivity back by Henry Ford and others and they certainly did not want to do nice tings for their employees. Ignoring facts does not make them go away.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
This article is about companies this time. Not the Govt, so thank you die hard capitalist. Profit over everything right? POE on the PowerPoint. POE!!
I'm often tempted to mod you up but then I realize you have me foed. Interesting as I usually agree with your posts. Maybe it was a mistake on your part. Oh well.
One of the greatest keys to efficiency in many types of positions, especially those which require sitting behind a desk, is employees knowing under their own judgment when it is okay to goof off for two or three minutes here and there. I am not talking about the manager facebooking all day, I am talk about the people who get things done. It is important for desk jockeys who know the workflow and their environment well enough to be able to stop what they are doing for a moment, scan some headlines, toss a stress ball around, or whatever, and then get back to it. This produces better work and a happier workplace. Lunches are great and so are breaks. But being able to take a quick BS moment or two out of the day is essential. I could carry on about this as a philosophy, but I'm betting most people here know what I am talking about. We do not need this. We cannot have this... well, unless it means firing deadweight middle management. Perhaps then we can make a deal.
Brought to you by Carl's Junior.
Fuck off, bigot. We've seen your type around here before - and we don't want any of the shit sandwich you're peddling.
Yep.
It is better that the only monitoring organization is the government. Everybody knows how inefficient government is compared to private corporations.
If you can't prevent something you don't want - make sure the government gets a monopoly on doing it. They don't answer to shareholders, they don't get fired, so they have much more room to screw it up, underfinance it, and get hampered by opposition votes.
Yes. Go big government - try to monitor us. While also providing healthcare, public transportation, schooling and a hundred other things funded by taxes that can't be increased further (without loosing the next election.) Monitoring will be underfunded like everything else - and when the election comes up - people want money for schools or pensions or more cops in the streets - they won't be asking for more monitoring. Kind of obvious how this will go in the long run.
The CIA is a proxy of the bankers and it subverts all technology in the early stages and pushes it hard so that it can be used to control us. Japan doesn't put up with it like other countries so they are a little bit "frozen in time". You have to be alert and always assume that new corporate tech is up to no good, and find or build a counter (or more importantly a competing tech) to it. In Microsoft's case, you have to find out which corporate board members have been corrupted by George Soros. Every time he "invests" in a company it turns rogue and SJW, for recent example Netflix.
who work on projects like this
My prior employer did something like this. They had a master NOC that had a VNC of every PC's screen on a wall for "efficiency helpers" to monitor. They also saw every PC's webcam, and of course it was against corporate policy to cover it up.
We were also required to log all distractions on a lengthy web form, so when Sally stopped by Joe's cube to ask if he was coming to the daily status meeting, Joe had to log into a website and fill out a form describing the distraction, who caused the distraction, and for what purpose. If corporate determined the interruption did not have a legitimate business justification, whomever caused the distraction was reprimanded.
There was an utter revolt after about a week, but the company's response was to double down on the system, and they summarily and very publicly walked out the three or four most vocal opponents of the system.
I turned in my resignation the following Monday, and last I heard from anyone there are only a handful of people left and the company has outsourced most everything to "value locales."
When has that ever happened? When has there been peace, in any meaningful sense? When has there never been hate?
You're talking about a fantasy, and trying to insist that reality can be as you describe. It has never, ever been as you describe. All indications are, it never will be as you describe.
I am not a fan of Trump, nor did I vote for him. However, you're probably mentally ill. When you confuse fantasy for reality, you're suffering from delusions. No, we aren't going to take leadership, or governance, from the people who are not just demonstrative of their illness, but are also proud of it and want to force others to conform to their delusions.
Sorry, but see a qualified mental health professional. This may be difficult because the mentally ill often don't realize they suffer and refuse to seek treatment. I wish you the best of luck and really do urge you to get treatment from a qualified professional. Mental illness is not a choice and there need be no stigma associated with treatment.
And she does it better, too.
No, UNIX is not the number one family. Number one goes to Linux. Not only is it Linux, but it is Linux without the GNU tools. Android is as related to UNIX only about as much as Windows is.
You don't have to like it, but that doesn't change anything. You don't get to decide what reality is. You don't get to make things up and decide they are true. Sorry.
but but but but......"with a computer!"
Twinstiq, game news
They have a completely different world view.
In their minds, the worker isn't productive unless constantly watched, monitored, and threatened. That unless the worker is scared shitless of winding up destitute, they won't do anything, much less anything worth paying them for.
It's the same mindset of a slave owner. They own you, you do what they say or else, and you don't get a choice about it. That's how they view others "beneath them". Those "beneath them" are not even human to them. Capitalism at it's core reflects this. Profit over everything, charge what ever you want, and if they can't pay your price, refuse to do business, even if doing so will kill them. That's why it has to be externally regulated in the first place. It intentionally places no value on others.
Microsoft (and any employer that implements this idea) is just doing what comes natural to them. Screw over everyone for their own sake. Does it mean that people will be less productive if this gets implemented? Yes. But in their eyes, they would have had more loss of profit if they did NOT implement it. Even if it costs them money, they will blame the workers for not wanting to work hard enough, instead of the Orwellian / Manna style control over their workers' lives.
Long story short, in their minds they are righteous and you, the worker, are not. That's why you work, and they collect the checks. You are under them for a reason, and that reason is because you are lazy and not hardworking. If you weren't you would be out golfing or making deals with them. Because you are not, you are someone to despise for "having something wrong with them".
I wonder if that applies to citizens monitored by their counties too. I'm especially curious about the loyalty part.
Contrary to common belief on slashdot, not every company would want this, and even then, not every manager would want this for their department. When it comes to management, there are generally two schools of thought:
1) Employees are fundamentally lazy and require constant supervision for maximum productivity
2) Employees are fundamentally motivated to do their job, and if you empower them to make more decisions without needing to consult you, then they do their job more efficiently and provide better customer satisfaction.
Both of these theories are valid, and both are used, though which one is used depends on the particular job and the particular employees that you hire. UPS for example is all about strict time management, so they have policy governing almost every small action you make, including how precisely you'll hold your keys, and for that it makes sense.
Customer service jobs, especially like those of retail workers, tend to benefit more from an empowerment model where they're allowed to make decisions on behalf of the company without the need to consult their manager. Then there are office workers who tend to have much more specialized roles where salaries and benefits are competitive, who not only need empowerment to do their job, but are probably less inclined to work for a given employer if the work environment sucks. Managers of said employees probably don't want this kind of thing because they wouldn't want to lose any of their talent.
That said, if you work in such a job role, it's unlikely you'd ever see anything like this. Though if you worked as a janitor or something, you may very well see this.
This is exactly what workers at corporations like the big banks, fossil fuels industry, arms industry, IT industry, etc. to monitor their executives.
Microsoft is working hard to beat Apple and regain their position of the master evil. But you have to give them credit for being concerned about your privacy (evil grin).
I keep preaching every chance I get, and M$ fans keep acting like they'll always have choices when the reality is you won't, unless you want to switch to a better OS. ;)
When it comes to management, there are generally two schools of thought:
1) Employees are fundamentally lazy and require constant supervision for maximum productivity 2) Employees are fundamentally motivated to do their job, and if you empower them to make more decisions without needing to consult you, then they do their job more efficiently and provide better customer satisfaction.
Both of these theories are valid, and both are used, though which one is used depends on the particular job and the particular employees that you hire.
The problem is basically every office consists of a mix of those people. I am mostly in the first category yet my office is generally managed on the second principle and there are those people here. I guess it works to a degree because I'm motivated enough not to get hassled and I do all work assigned to me and don't miss deadlines but on the other hand I could do my work a lot better and quicker if I could be bothered or should I say motivated properly.
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
MS made its big break when Gates 'stole' CP/M.
... doubleplusgood.
An OS family is defined by its API (at least by sane people). So Linux is part of the UNIX family, and so is, for example, QNX. You do not have to like that, but you do not get to decide what reality is. I am well aware that Linux is not a UNIX as it does not share kernel-code with either SYS V or BSD. It is however UNIX-like and that makes it part of the family.
Fundamentalists like you harm everybody, including yourself. Please go away.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
And other situations where you'd want better control over your meat-bots, like fast food. Did employee #215346 wash their hands for the proper amount of time before returning to the food assembly line? Did they drop food on the floor and then serve it anyway?
Actually, this technology makes a lot of sense. Total enforcement of corporate policy with fewer middle managers needed for a large work force. It's not like the peasant scum won't still scramble over themselves for any job they can get, at least the ones that haven't been replaced by a robot yet.
Would you give the authority of the police to anyone else than the government organization who actually is legally required to respect your rights in the matter-of-fact way? Rent-a-cop who sells your drunken shots, classifies your help-available status according to financial means, and analyzes your eye glances to sell you more stuff as you live the nightlife is a dystopian option by comparison.
nobody else was paying much attention to them. This is one of the reasons why many projects end up taking longer than estimated, costing more, and require renovations.
Am I the only one who works LESS when I know I am being observed. If I work in a location with a camera on me, I find it hard to concentrate, even when I am unsure if someone is watching. The idea of being watched at all times makes me mentally observe myself through the eyes of the observer (I think). I become self conscious, which consumes my time and reduces productivity.
First thing I do at my new office computer is tape over all cameras, remove speakers, headsets and microphones.
Am I paranoid to think that being observed all the time is creepy? And am I a bad worker for having reduced output when a creep is nearby and focused on me?