Tech & Biz

Finger on Your Pulse: Microsoft Seeks New Spyware

by Jordan Yerman | January 16, 2008 at 09:09 am

638 views | 5 Recommendations | 1 comment

Human Resources departments could be assessing workers based upon biometric measuring software developed by Microsoft, which brought us such bulletproof products as Vista... Integrity of development aside, this just seems useless: it's easy to understand why centralized monitoring of astronauts' or soldiers' vital signs could be useful, but cubicle-dwellers?

Monitoring people at work will be taken to a whole new level if a Microsoft patent application gets the go ahead.

The software giant has reportedly applied for a patent for software capable of spying on workers.

The program will monitor a user's computer activity, automatically offering help solving problems or links to resources.

Workers will be linked to their computers via wireless sensors that measure their metabolism.

Microsoft submitted a patent application in the US for a “unique monitoring system” that could link workers to their computers. Wireless sensors could read “heart rate, galvanic skin response, EMG, brain signals, respiration rate, body temperature, movement facial movements, facial expressions and blood pressure”, the application states.

Unions said they fear that employees could be dismissed on the basis of a computer’s assessment of their physiological state.

Civil Liberties groups are not amused, noting the unprecedented level of intrusion into the most minute actions of a given employee. Or, to put it more bluntly,

Companies will force this kind of stuff on you as long as you take it. At some point you have to stand up and say "take your sensors and shove them where the sun don't shine"
JB, Dayton, OH USA