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You don't have the same rights to privacy when performing your job for a corporation, and everyone else is already doing it in other industries. Just this week

You don't have the same rights to privacy when performing your job for a corporation, and everyone else is already doing it in other industries. Just this week was a big story about how a call center provider (used by Apple and others) was forcing employees to install cameras in their own homes to monitor their remote work: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/big-tech-call-center-workers-face-pressure-accept-home-surveillance-n1276227 https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/big-tech-call-center-...

tuxguy 5y ago
woah, this is bonkers !
wuschel 5y ago
I am not sure what is possible in other jurisdictions such as the EU, but I have not seen something like this so far.
- TeMPOraL 5y ago
  I'm not sure about individual member states, but there was this story in Germany the other day: https://www.zdnet.com/article/gdpr-german-laptop-retailer-fined-eur10-4m-for-video-monitoring-employees/ https://www.zdnet.com/article/gdpr-german-laptop-retailer-fi... €10M fine for keeping employees under video surveillance for no good reason. This is an example showing that there are limits to employee surveillance on-site.
crusty 5y ago
I was just going to mention customer service reps, who traditionally would have worked out of call centers and been subject to restrictions to make it more difficult for them to steal customer data (with the side 'benefit' of micromanaging productivity). With the pandemic, businesses that had considered CS staff they couldn't replace with AI as not sitting for remote were forced to figure out a way, and that way was essentially to replicate many of the security conditions of the call centers in the home, rationalized as a necessity to keep people employed and get through the pandemic. But let's be real, CS has long been a race to the bottom cost segment, often outsourced and run as a computer with a mere human overlay. So it was only a matter of time before management was satisfied that the security risks were mitigated enough to justify the new coat savings. Some big companies have already decided to stick with the home-based support setups they put in place only because of the pandemic. And now to apply the formula elsewhere.
- wiseleo 5y ago
  Customer support is a computer with a mere human overlay. A profound statement.
tgsovlerkhgsel 5y ago
In the US, or in Europe?

tuxguy 5y ago

woah, this is bonkers !

wuschel 5y ago

I am not sure what is possible in other jurisdictions such as the EU, but I have not seen something like this so far.

TeMPOraL 5y ago
I'm not sure about individual member states, but there was this story in Germany the other day: https://www.zdnet.com/article/gdpr-german-laptop-retailer-fined-eur10-4m-for-video-monitoring-employees/ https://www.zdnet.com/article/gdpr-german-laptop-retailer-fi... €10M fine for keeping employees under video surveillance for no good reason. This is an example showing that there are limits to employee surveillance on-site.

crusty 5y ago

I was just going to mention customer service reps, who traditionally would have worked out of call centers and been subject to restrictions to make it more difficult for them to steal customer data (with the side 'benefit' of micromanaging productivity). With the pandemic, businesses that had considered CS staff they couldn't replace with AI as not sitting for remote were forced to figure out a way, and that way was essentially to replicate many of the security conditions of the call centers in the home, rationalized as a necessity to keep people employed and get through the pandemic. But let's be real, CS has long been a race to the bottom cost segment, often outsourced and run as a computer with a mere human overlay. So it was only a matter of time before management was satisfied that the security risks were mitigated enough to justify the new coat savings. Some big companies have already decided to stick with the home-based support setups they put in place only because of the pandemic. And now to apply the formula elsewhere.

wiseleo 5y ago
Customer support is a computer with a mere human overlay. A profound statement.

tgsovlerkhgsel 5y ago

In the US, or in Europe?