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Consent to being surveilled or risk getting fired, says Amazon
Remember the AI cameras Amazon said it was going to install in its delivery vans to, erm, monitor their driving behaviour? The company is now deploying them and has asked tens of thousands of its employees to consent to being biometrically surveilled.
The e-commerce giant, however, isn't really giving them much of a choice. They have to agree or they can't drive the vans at all. In short, they have to suck it up or they lose their jobs. Referring to its AI-powered cameras, Amazon said: "This technology may create Biometric Information, and collect, store, and use Biometric Information from such photographs," Vice reported.
The drivers also have to agree to Amazon potentially storing the data for up to 30 days after it was collected. Some have refused and given up their jobs. The cameras developed by Netradyne are running machine learning software to detect 16 different types of behaviour, including everything from failing to brake at a stop sign, or speeding, to not wearing a seat belt or if the camera is obstructed.
See also: Amazon ditching plans to monitor delivery drivers for mask wearing
Amazon has dropped plans to use in-vehicle cameras to record which delivery service provider (DSP) drivers are wearing masks. [...] Amazon plans to use the in-vehicle cameras to monitor safe driving behaviors, including distracted driving. In a recent training video, however, the company added mask wearing as one of the behaviors it would monitor, The Information reported.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 30 2021, @03:57PM
If you rephrased that as "I usually don't do things that are bad", I would have believed you. The thing is that no-one is performing at 100% for 100% of the time. We all have down days. And that's where this thing bites you: on your down day, some moron cuts you off and you yell at them and shake your first. The AI flags that as aggressive driving and you get called in by your manager to have "a little chat" that turns into "we are treating you like kids and so I'll have to 'write you up' for this".
The thing is, these things have no context, they have no intelligence; they just match patterns and then use that against you. Show me where this type of tech is used in favor/defense of an employee as opposed to the company and then we'll talk again.