Over the summer of this year, a technology company named ‘Three Square Market’ in Wisconsin became one of the first in the world to microchip staff so that they could clock-in by waving their arm, rather than using swipe cards or ID badges.
Staff can also order food at the cafeteria and open doors with the chip which is picked up by a reader using radio waves. Understandably, this has raised concerns over whether we are becoming a ‘robotic’ or a ‘Big brother’ society with little privacy or free will.
In a recent article, published 13th November 2017, LinkedIn echoes these comments,
“Employee surveillance technology has reached a new level of eery sophistication. Tech firms are offering corporations the power to track their workers’ app use, web browsing activity, keystrokes, and time spent at their work stations, reports The Guardian. One firm, Crossover, even offers a feature that lets employers take photos of workers via webcam every 10 minutes. Another company, Qumram, offers a mobile app that allows employers to monitor all activities on employee devices. While such surveillance is intended to detect and address legal and company policy violations, harassment, and other workplace problems, some warn that it opens the door to abuse and violations of privacy.”
Speaking of the micro-chipping occurring at Three Square Market in Wisconsin, Wisconsin, Alessandro Acquisti, a professor of information technology and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College, said that the microchip could be used for something more invasive later on.
“The chip could track how long employees were in the bathroom or how long they took on their lunch breaks without their knowledge”, he warned. (Telegraph 25th July 2017)
What are your thoughts on this? Has technology gone too far or would you welcome this sort of surveillance, if it made your life quicker and easier?
