Privacy Violation in Italian Media Giant 30
orzetto writes "Italian newspaper La Repubblica is reporting that Silvio Berlusconi's company, Mediaset (that owns three of the six main TV stations in Italy), has been tagging employees with Rfid chips since last December (for English version, ask the fish).
The chips would allegedly be able to track the movements of any worker, even if Mediaset spokesmen say it's only to automatically open some doors to authorized personnel only and such things. Trade unionists from CGIL have reported the company's behaviour to the authorities, as it would be in violation of the Italian workers' charter (again, fish).
This would probably be small news (yet another bad employer) if Silvio Berlusconi were not the Italian Prime Minister, violating the same laws he should enforce."
Wow...stories every 3 minutes now... (Score:2)
Appreciate their (the editors') special effort today though...had my bellyfool of laughs through the day.
Hope the whiny comment posters would STFU though. Lighten up folks.
(PS: posted this comment in last article, but a new story was posted by the time I hit submit).
Re:Wow...stories every 3 minutes now... (Score:1)
Re:How else do you make socialist work??? (Score:2)
confused (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:confused (Score:1)
Re:confused (Score:4, Informative)
No, this is no April fools stuff. The Pope is dying in Italy and no newspaper is in the mood of a joke. Furthermore newspapers do not have the habit of pranking around just because it's April 1 anyway.
By the way, the problem is that, when Berlusconi does something illegal, it is made legal as soon as the trial approaches. This was done for account tampering, TV station ownership limits, and corruption in judiciary proceedings, and probably other things I don't remember right now - so Rfid tracking might become legal at some point in Italy. As Daniele Luttazzi [wikipedia.org] put it, "let's hope he has a joint soon".
It just proves (Score:1, Offtopic)
Re:It just proves (Score:1, Offtopic)
I agree. I remember when he was elected. He has created a great legacy and will leave the world a better place for having been here.
It will be interesting to see who the next Pope will be. I am betting on the Cardinals picking an African. It will be a good political move for the Catholic Church. Also it is possible that a Pope from there will be able to do as much to better the lives of the people from his region as Pop
I'm just going to assume... (Score:1, Redundant)
Re:I'm just going to assume... (Score:2)
How about the april 1st rule?
Will I have to stay away from slashdot until the 3rd until every last part of the globe has reached the 2nd? Or will slashdot stop posting this frikkin crap?
I'm Italian and I confirm (Score:4, Informative)
this is defamation, fuckwit (Score:2)
Appropriate translations (Score:1)
I have no idea why.
I do not understand Earth Dates. (Score:2)
Or as we in the UK refer to him the "Happy Shopper Mussolini" (sorry this joke doesn't cross borders very well)
A better translation... (Score:5, Informative)
============
According to the union, in the ID badges there is an
instrument meant to control the movements of the workers
"spy Microchip for workers"
the Cgil union denounces Mediaset
by LUCA FAZZO
MILAN - Hardly twenty days ago the Guarantor for the privacy had warned people against the usage of instruments that control the movement of workers from a distance [remotely]. It was now discovered that the company founded from the Prime Minister employs the microchips in their ID cards. Yesterday morning Mediaset and three societies controlled by it (Videotime, Rti andIndustrial Electronics) have been denounced by the Cgil [it's an union] for antitrade-union behavior in the Job Court of Milan.
The leadership of Mediaset is accused of having inserted in the new ID badges with magnetic band, distributed to the end of 2004 to approximately 2.500 workers, an Rfid microcircuit. This is a last generation chip that's usually used to control the movements of goods and objects (it is an Rfid chip, for example, that enables the Telepass system to work [this is a toll booth automatic collection system available on Italian freeways]) but that Mediaset applies instead to persons: in this way, according to the union, Mediaset could follow live and also store [for later data mining] all the movements of its employee in the workplace. [thus creating] some sort of Big Brother that is in a position of being able to track every step workers take.
Yesterday, when the news broke, Mediaset reacted with "astonishment". "Twice - the representatives of Mediaset said - we have reassured the union verbally and in writing on the use of these technologies. It's simply a chip that facilitates the movement of people within the company buildings. We call a proximity chip: the doors open on their own when workers approach without them having to swipe their cards, and the parking lot barriers will raise automatically as well. Even if, and we aren't implying that this is what happening, these technologies could enable remote monitoring, Mediaset would not be interested to use them that way. As far as we know this same technology has been used in other places/companies without any problems.
But the representatives of the Cgil [trade union] within Mediaset, evidently, have not been convinced of the harmlessness of this electronic device. And they denounced [legally, they filed papers] the company for violation of article 28 of law 300 of 1970 of the Charter of the Workers. The law expressly prohibits the remote monitoring of the workers' activities by means of audiovisual systems or other equipment; and it is this particular article, according to the union representatives, that would be infringed by the introduction of this new ID card.
"The ID that was introduced last year and that was delivered to every employee, enables remote monitoring of what they do in the workplace", this can be read in the legal papers signed from lawyers Mario Fezzi, Stefano Chiusolo and Maurizio Borali. And further: "badges containing Rfid chips enable the employer to reconstruct the movements of every employee during the entire working day. With such a system it would be possible to know how long a worker spent at their workplace, how much time they have spent in the bathroom or in the canteen or at the water cooler [coffee machine in the original], which and how many coworkers they became in contact with, how long they spent on the union premises, if they participated or not to the trade-union assemblies, etc ".
In order to sweep away doubts about the real purposes of the innovation, the lawyers of the union state, it would have been enough that Mediaset made public a list of the antennas placed inside the offices and other locations that detect the "presence" of workers carrying the new ID badges. The leadership of Mediaset, however - according to the legal papers filed by the union - has always refused to supply this information.
Not a joke! (Score:1)
I find this pletora of 1st April jokes really annoying: real articles risk to be ignored.
By all means: THIS IS NOT A JOKE. These news are true.
Too bad the timing... maybe it would have been better to wait a day or two before posting.