Posted on 01/15/2008 4:29:27 PM PST by freemike
Microsoft is developing Big Brother-style software capable of remotely monitoring a worker’s productivity, physical wellbeing and competence.
The Times has seen a patent application filed by the company for a computer system that links workers to their computers via wireless sensors that measure their metabolism. The system would allow managers to monitor employees’ performance by measuring their heart rate, body temperature, movement, facial expression and blood pressure. Unions said they fear that employees could be dismissed on the basis of a computer’s assessment of their physiological state.
(Excerpt) Read more at technology.timesonline.co.uk ...
Employees don’t have anything to worry about unless they are guilty of being burdens to the employer.
Yeah right! That should attract highly sought after employees to a company. The only people working at a company with that crap installed would be, errrr.... MORONS!
Bill Gates is very Liberal.
Just another way for companies to monitor the health and lifestyle choices of their employees.
Depression or an abnormal metabolism gets you called into the office.
Horrific.
Further proof that Bill Gates, while not necessarily the anti-Christ, will be a tool of such a beast!!
I’m taking that as sarcasm.
Bio Signs Tech: “Sir, we have problem in cubicle #167, profuse sweating, shallow breathing, alpha waves showing spiked activity”
Bio Manager: “I’m zooming in with the security cam, he looks agitated. Hmm..His credit report shows several late payments and HR had a meeting with him last week. We’d better call the SWAT team before he goes postal”
This would fall more into the Brave New World category than the 1984 category, but certainly has the flavor of both.
Compulsory use of the monitors on one’s body, to be sure.
“Employees don’t have anything to worry about unless they are guilty of being burdens to the employer.”
Tell me this is sarcasm?!
Would you mind wearing vital sign monitors on your person at all times in your job, knowing that any undesired change in your metabolism (perhaps psychogenic in nature) would be compiled and added to your file?
“The only people working at a company with that crap installed would be, errrr.... MORONS!:”
No, they would be wage serfs in every sense of the word.
Nothing to worry about here. It is being brought to you by the same company that created Windows!! It won’t work worth a darn for at least 5 or 6 generations and then only if you download patches and updates every other day! ;-)
Hope this is satire.
No but it is a new look at being hung over!
What a terrific innovation! This technology ought to be employed as soon as practicable - and at first solely upon corporate executives in order to establish proper enterprise benchmarks. It is only natural that highly-compensated employees would display the sort of superior productivity reflective of the most desirable behavioral characteristics, right?
No kidding! Slaves shackled and bound. What employer needs to know your heartbeat? I say the software is going to be a huge flop!
Employers don’t have anything to worry about unless they repeatedly fail to provide enough work to keep their employees busy and productive.
OK....I can’t stop laughing.
Looks like this 1984 ad by Apple not-so-subtly comparing Microsoft to Big Brother wasn’t far off the mark:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYecfV3ubP8
It may show that employers who require lots of overtime on their employees aren’t getting much in return and, in fact, may be costing the employers more in the long run.
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