BANGALORE, INDIA: Spying is no news in this high-tech, modern, fast world. Countries spying on countries, enterprises spying on rivals, husbands spying on wives and wives doing the same on their 'faithful' hubbies who explore new methods and opportunities of cheating.
And in this world dominated by professional rivalry, careerism and much more, employers spying on employees is also no big news. However, a recent development has made the employers shout hurray while many employees cry foul!
Japanese phone giant KDDI Corporation recently announced the creation of a new mobile phone by its researchers that could allow prying bosses to keep tabs on every movement of their staff. According to a BBC report, this mobile phone in Japan is capable of tracking not only a user's position but the most minute movements. It can identify “activities such as walking, climbing stairs or even cleaning" and "beams the information back to HQ.”
So, one can naturally guess what all it can watch. A real peeping Tom!
Naturally, the companies that pampers the philosophy of more productivity with less workforce will find this a potential one. Moreover, the global economic recession has taught the employers world over to do researches upon researches to increase productivity. According to Philip Sugai, director of the mobile consumer lab at the International University of Japan, the technology is an “incredibly important” discovery on technical terms.
The gadget works by analyzing the movement of accelerometers, which are found in many devices.
“Technically, this is an important innovation. For example, when applied to the issue of telemedicine, or other situations in which remotely monitoring or accessing an individual's personal movements is vital to that service,” Sugai said.
But behind the veil of innovation hides the threat, feels many. A clear case of the invasion of privacy and basic human right violation.
"This is treating people like machines, like so many cattle to be monitored and watched over," the BBC report quoted Kazuo Hizumi, a leading human rights lawyer, as saying. “New technology should be used to improve our lives not to spy on us."
And Sugai is also aware of the unpleasant consequences "when applied to employee tracking or sales force optimization."
So one can hope that KDDI would not use the 'revolutionary' gadget to spy on its own employees, probably the very brains that worked on the idea!
Remember the story of Bhasmasura, you techie brain?!
8fda35c3-a058-4e73-8d63-bb7a29e5b60d|3|3.0