 | | 
26.03.2021, 19:35
|  | à la mod | | Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: ZG
Posts: 5,750
Groaned at 126 Times in 102 Posts
Thanked 17,297 Times in 5,496 Posts
| | The dystopian nightmare has begun
The fact that they breezily concede that it won't be used in countries with stricter labour laws 'Missing from desk': AI webcam raises remote surveillance concerns
System developed by French firm Teleperformance monitors home workers for ‘breaches’
For anyone concerned that an era of home working could also become one of remote surveillance, the training video for Teleperformance’s in-house webcam security system, called TP Observer, is the stuff of bad dreams.
Explained by “Anna”, a desk-sitting avatar complete with an artificial voice, the video introduces TP Observer as “a risk-mitigation tool that monitors and tracks real time employee behaviour, and detects any violations to pre-set business rules”.
Anna explains that this means home workers will have an AI-enabled webcam added to their computers that recognises their face, tags their location and scans for “breaches” of rules at random points during a shift.
These include an “unknown person” detected at the desk via the facial recognition software, “missing from desk”, “detecting an idle user” and “unauthorised mobile phone usage”.
Anna says: “Any breach detected by the AI triggers a real-time alert to the supervisor for further actions.” This means a still photo is snapped and sent to a manager.
The video includes a series of avatar-staff asking questions, including one who asks whether the system is “a breach of my privacy at home”. The manager tells him the scanning is needed to “help us with risk mitigation and data security, which is required by most of our customers”.
Another digital employee asks if they will get into trouble if children or other family members approach their home workplace. Not “as long as the people in the background are not directly looking into the screen, or very close to it”. Anna replies. Staff should sit with a wall behind them “to avoid such breaches”, she says. Strong lights should be used for night shifts, so the camera can see properly.
Teleperformance said the system would not be used for UK staff, but it is expected to be used in a number of 30-plus other countries where the French-based multinational operates and where labour laws are less strict. Source | The following 16 users would like to thank Castro for this useful post: | 3Wishes, amogles, Energy Girl, HIAO, meloncollie, minimimi, MusicChick, newtoswitz, p42, Phil_MCR, roegner, st2lemans, swissotter, TonyClifton, Urs Max | 
26.03.2021, 20:53
|  | Forum Legend | | Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Rapperswil
Posts: 3,754
Groaned at 75 Times in 70 Posts
Thanked 4,537 Times in 2,076 Posts
| | Re: The dystopian nightmare has begun
So basically a call centre operator is even more crap for their staff than it is for the people who have to call them.
Hard to believe!
| 
26.03.2021, 21:11
|  | à la mod | | Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: ZG
Posts: 5,750
Groaned at 126 Times in 102 Posts
Thanked 17,297 Times in 5,496 Posts
| | Re: The dystopian nightmare has begun | Quote: | |  | | | So basically a call centre operator is even more crap for their staff than it is for the people who have to call them.
Hard to believe! | | | | | This quote is particularly chilling. | Quote: |  | | | Another digital employee asks if they will get into trouble if children or other family members approach their home workplace. Not “as long as the people in the background are not directly looking into the screen, or very close to it”. Anna replies. Staff should sit with a wall behind them “to avoid such breaches”, she says. Strong lights should be used for night shifts, so the camera can see properly. | | | | | Your child sits on your lap whilst you are working and you risk punishment if they look towards the screen.. seriously wtf?!? | Quote: |  | | | Eating while on shift is not permitted, staff are told. “If the system detects no keyboard stroke and mouse click, it will show you as idle for that particular duration, and it will be reported to your supervisor. So please avoid hampering your productivity.” | | | | | I do feel sorry for those who have no choice but to work for these slave drivers.
| The following 4 users would like to thank Castro for this useful post: | | 
26.03.2021, 21:21
|  | Forum Legend | | Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Lugano
Posts: 32,601
Groaned at 2,592 Times in 1,849 Posts
Thanked 39,694 Times in 18,713 Posts
| | Re: The dystopian nightmare has begun
I don't do video calls, or rather I do with my broken camera.
Tom
| The following 3 users would like to thank st2lemans for this useful post: | | This user groans at st2lemans for this post: | | 
26.03.2021, 22:39
|  | Forum Veteran | | Join Date: Feb 2021 Location: Western Austria
Posts: 763
Groaned at 8 Times in 7 Posts
Thanked 1,313 Times in 572 Posts
| | Re: The dystopian nightmare has begun
We (thankfully) have a router that can't really support both video and audio. Or so we say...
| The following 2 users would like to thank bossybaby for this useful post: | | 
26.03.2021, 22:45
|  | Forum Legend | | Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Work in ZH, live in SZ
Posts: 12,403
Groaned at 365 Times in 295 Posts
Thanked 23,772 Times in 8,603 Posts
| | Re: The dystopian nightmare has begun
It’s been a decade since I did an MBA, but one of the core questions that popped up in many cases discussed was „shareholder vs stakeholder“. I know that we currently have some prominent examples like Amazon doing the opposite, but at least back then did all research show that companies who treated their employees better than their competitors did made massive ROI on those costs.
AI is a pretty new topic and it has a lot of ethical challenges- Microsoft had triggered quite some debate some years ago when their „office graph“ started to analyze your efficiency- based on some preset logic. They got enough backlash that they decided to only show their analysis to employees and not the manager... but I am quite sure that wasn’t the original intention. I personally believe that it is an area that urgently needs groundrules through labor laws. Otherwise will at least some companies take advantage of the tech in ways we can’t even foresee now.
| The following 6 users would like to thank Treverus for this useful post: | | 
26.03.2021, 23:30
|  | Forum Legend | | Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Basel
Posts: 14,989
Groaned at 295 Times in 199 Posts
Thanked 19,055 Times in 8,017 Posts
| | Re: The dystopian nightmare has begun
I'm sure the employees will be replaced with AIs soon enough for this to be a non-issue | This user would like to thank Phil_MCR for this useful post: | | 
27.03.2021, 00:08
|  | à la mod | | Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: ZG
Posts: 5,750
Groaned at 126 Times in 102 Posts
Thanked 17,297 Times in 5,496 Posts
| | Re: The dystopian nightmare has begun | Quote: | |  | | | I personally believe that it is an area that urgently needs groundrules through labor laws. Otherwise will at least some companies take advantage of the tech in ways we can’t even foresee now. | | | | | Well labour laws will protect those lucky enough to live under their jurisdiction, however I think it should go further. People unfairly dismissed in say India should be able to challenge Teleperformance in the French courts e.g. through class action law firms.
| The following 5 users would like to thank Castro for this useful post: | | 
27.03.2021, 02:59
| Forum Veteran | | Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Zurich
Posts: 562
Groaned at 79 Times in 57 Posts
Thanked 1,263 Times in 648 Posts
| | Re: The dystopian nightmare has begun | Quote: | |  | | | I'm sure the employees will be replaced with AIs soon enough for this to be a non-issue  | | | | | Wasn't all this ground breaking technology supposed to make us all redundant anyway with 'the workers'
composed of androids and robots.
| This user would like to thank John William for this useful post: | | 
27.03.2021, 12:26
|  | Forum Legend | | Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Zurich
Posts: 3,285
Groaned at 67 Times in 52 Posts
Thanked 3,257 Times in 1,739 Posts
| | Re: The dystopian nightmare has begun | Quote: | |  | | | Wasn't all this ground breaking technology supposed to make us all redundant anyway with 'the workers'
composed of androids and robots. | | | | | Problem is that it's all still in the Power Point presentation stage.
| 
27.03.2021, 13:19
|  | Forum Veteran | | Join Date: Sep 2019 Location: Hopefully soon to be Aargau
Posts: 2,004
Groaned at 803 Times in 451 Posts
Thanked 4,767 Times in 2,087 Posts
| | Re: The dystopian nightmare has begun
It’s an interesting development that’s for sure. In China there are already apps that people have to run in the office which tracks movement and displays how long employees are at their desk.
In my opinion companies that carry on with this outdated world view will be the ones that suffer. We’ve already seen during the Covid crisis how different companies have behaved. Some have still forced people into the office despite state guidance. Employee resentment has increased and motivation has decreased within these companies as a result.
Ultimately companies need to move away from regarding time as their main KPI. Companies that reward productivity, output and results will be more successful than those more concentrated on whether employees have spent 8 hours at their desk.
The era of trying to pad out ones 8 hour day with pointless tasks like 360 reviews, performance review objectives unrelated to ones job and just appearing to look busy are thankfully coming to an end.
| The following 3 users would like to thank TonyClifton for this useful post: | | 
27.03.2021, 14:19
|  | Forum Legend | | Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Work in ZH, live in SZ
Posts: 12,403
Groaned at 365 Times in 295 Posts
Thanked 23,772 Times in 8,603 Posts
| | Re: The dystopian nightmare has begun | Quote: | |  | | | Well labour laws will protect those lucky enough to live under their jurisdiction, however I think it should go further. People unfairly dismissed in say India should be able to challenge Teleperformance in the French courts e.g. through class action law firms. | | | | |
Well, I'd argue they should have a case against their employer, not the software provider of their employer...no?
Thats essentially the "supply chain laws" currently discussed in pretty much all western countries. Thats what the Swiss voted on last year and while a majority of the voters wanted it, did the majority of the cantons throw it out... because there are many small, conservative cantons.
| 
27.03.2021, 14:39
|  | Modulo 2 | | Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Baselland
Posts: 15,158
Groaned at 309 Times in 265 Posts
Thanked 23,418 Times in 9,524 Posts
| | Re: The dystopian nightmare has begun
Not really a dystopian nightmare beginning. Bad managers have wanted to monitor their staff for decades. I wrote a program fifteen years ago to report on activity on my client's computer network. The data is gathered at userid level.
It wasn't used to monitor individuals (it was a systems tool to look for problematic processes) but it could have been. Steps were taken so that user identifiable data was hidden. Reports were only in aggregate.
What particularly stupid is that if an employee is taking the piss, any competent* manager will spot it without surveillance.
* And there lies the nub of the issue...
__________________
Down with racism. Long live miscegenation!
| 
27.03.2021, 15:33
|  | Forum Veteran | | Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Suisse Romande
Posts: 1,406
Groaned at 10 Times in 9 Posts
Thanked 3,558 Times in 1,015 Posts
| | Re: The dystopian nightmare has begun | Quote: | |  | | |
Your child sits on your lap whilst you are working and you risk punishment if they look towards the screen.. seriously wtf?!?
| | | | | And, they are in their own home.
My teams are all operating remotely, and not exactly through choice.
When we have our calls, they are always apologizing when the dog, cat, children, partner, postman interrupts.
I always tell them they have nothing to apologize for. I’m intruding into their home.
| The following 6 users would like to thank HIAO for this useful post: | |
Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests) | | Thread Tools | | Display Modes | Linear Mode |
Posting Rules
| You may not post new threads You may not post replies You may not post attachments You may not edit your posts HTML code is Off | | | All times are GMT +2. The time now is 09:33. | |