Microsoft readies Hal 9000 [The Ultimate Office Snitch]

Now we will have computers monitoring our worth as employees

Judging from a recent patent application, Microsoft hopes to build some sort of "activity monitoring system" that keeps an eye on worker productivity using various "physiological or environmental sensors." These sensors would track everything from heart rate, respiration rate, body temperature, facial expressions, and blood pressure to brain signals and galvanic skin response...

...In other words: If you don't do your duty, the system will make sure your duties are assigned to someone else.

The Patent Application

This will cause more grief than it's worth. Sure, it may point out some your weak points on the job and get someone to help you with that but most companies can look at past preformance to note your weak and stong points.

Great, it monitors frustration and stress. Isn't that the part of most jobs anyway. What to they want to do? Medicate us to turn us in to thougthless zombies?

Next we may hear of the government's plan to set up montiors world wide to do away with everyone who is not following the offical program.

Perhaps this is all just a dream. Dave, I will dream won't I?

mod edit: changed quote tags to external quote tags.



[edit on 6-1-2008 by UK Wizard]

Thanks to whoever decided to flag my thread. No one has any thoughts on what this can lead to in the work place, court and more?

This scares me a bit, I never liked microsoft to begin with, and now they are creating a new way to control people, how fun, this is just going to make more problems, computers really are evil.

I think the people behind the computers are the evel ones. This will just bring Big Brother that much closer to me and you.

Playing devil's advocate here, but this could for some professions be a good thing. Personally, I would love a sensor group at work that is going to tell my boss to send me home when I'm looking at a 15 hour shift.

Think about surgeons and pilots, monitoring that they aren't too tired/exhausted/drunk to perform their duties. It could help.

However in the long run, I have a feeling this will be used for other purposes, but that really shouldn't surprise anyone, should it?

reply to post by niteboy82

However in the long run, I have a feeling this will be used for other purposes, but that really shouldn't surprise anyone, should it?

My thoughts exactly. A conveinence for big business may turn out to be shackles for the working person.
Perhaps they will be used in schools to determine which subjects one is better suited for. Then again this may also be used to find out if one is cheating on an examine.