Imagine the scene. You fire up your computer first thing in the morning and in place of your normal desktop you have a message telling you to report to the boss immediately.
He or she informs you that yesterday your body temperature, blood pressure and heart rate were a bit high. You did less work and made more mistakes than usual. That could have been because you had picked up a virus – or perhaps it was because you were trying to cover up that you spent an hour of work time booking your summer holiday on the web.
This isn’t so fanciful as it seems. The technology to monitor all these things currently exists. And now Microsoft has filed a patent application for a system that links workers to their computers through wireless sensors that measure their metabolism and even their facial expressions.
The system would work not only through desktop or laptop computers, but also through mobile telephones or hand-held personal computers. Workers could therefore be monitored even when out of the office.
Of course, the system could have important benefits for employer and employee alike. Most obviously, the workplace could be made more efficient by ensuring that workers under stress in a particular job are moved to other work or sent help.
But the system could also sour industrial relations by undermining trust between employers and employees.
Similar monitoring technology is already used for workers – such as astronauts and fighter pilots – who must perform under exceptional pressure. But the Microsoft technology would make it into a routine system of management and control in the “normal” office environment.
Because of this, the system would almost certainly be illegal under the Data Protection Act. This legislation lays down that the information must be: used only for specified purposes; adequate, relevant and not excessive; and processed in line with the rights of the individual.
Most obviously, the individual’s right to privacy could be undermined by the new technology.
Big Brother may already be watching us as we go about many of our routine tasks. But the computerised “spy” in the office is likely to prove a step too far.
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Notes to Editors
Pearson Hinchliffe Commercial Law is a commercial law practice providing a range of legal services to business and commercial clients in Manchester, Oldham and across the North West. The firm's specialities include Company & Commercial, Employment Law, Commercial Litigation and Commercial Property matters.
As one of the leading law firms in the North of England, Pearson Hinchliffe’s mission is to be ‘the complete law firm’ providing the highest quality legal services to its clients. It does this by offering practical and cost effective, high quality legal advice for a wide range of clients. Each client is catered for as an individual with their business and personal requirements taken into account which allows for a highly personalised service.
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