Last week the Financial Times published a scary story about how technology is being used by companies to spy on us at work. It described how sensors can be easily and cheaply hidden in name badges and office furniture to track where we are, who we talk to and in what tone of voice. HR departments can find out how long we take to get to work and how we behave when we get there. In shops, call centres and even boardrooms, the data could be used to decide who to promote and who to fire.
I shuddered as I read the article – as did most FT readers. Nineteen Eighty-Four is upon us, they commented online. Totalitarianism is rampant! Privacy is down the plughole! (Some of the comments are published in “Feedback” below).
Yet on closer inspection, the arrival of Big Brother in the corporate world is not necessarily such a bad thing. Being constantly monitored by invisible devices might sound frightening but I’m not sure it is any more so than being monitored infrequently by visible human beings.