New Phone Allows Bosses To Snoop On Staff 143
tad001 writes "The Japanese phone giant KDDI has developed a way to track users' movements in fine detail. It works by analyzing the movement of accelerometers, found in many handsets. Activities such as walking, climbing stairs, or even cleaning can be identified, the researchers say. The company plans to sell the service to clients such as managers, foremen, and employment agencies."
It works (Score:5, Funny)
My boss just came into my office and told me to get the hell off of Slashdot and get back to work!
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Oh yea? My boss just busted into the bathroom stall and told me to stop wanking!
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That's a severe invasion of privacy - have you discussed it with your union representative?
It's baffling how much control that some people seems to want to have over their peers.
Re:It works (Score:5, Funny)
Damn straight! You will pry my cock from my cold, dead hands!
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Damn straight! You will pry my cock from my cold, dead hands!
Don't worry. What is a straight going to do with somebody else's cock?
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What is a straight going to do with somebody else's cock?
There is an obvious, logical answer to that, but of course a Slashdot geek male would never figure it out :-)
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Ohhhhhhhh it took me a long time but I figured it out.
You know, expecting a Slashdot geek male to share his hard-won woman is like expecting a hobo to share his Thunderbird and squirrel-kabob.
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uuum, girls can be straight as well, you know... heard about them? girls? no?
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What part of "It's Slashdot"...
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I know, I know...I should know better... *holds up hands*
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When fighting against someone far more powerful than you, bring your friends. It's just plain common sense.
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Mod parent Insightful.
And to the GP:
"Why involve a lobbyist, can't fight your own battles?"
Re:It works (Score:4, Funny)
What? How can it do that? Unless wanking creates extreme readings on the accelerometer, I don't see how...
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That reply might have been more funny if you had remembered to tick the "[ ] Post Anonymously" box.
Replying to your own joke just makes you look like a pathetic looney, sorry.
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Next will probably be an application that records audio from the cell phone microphone and tells what you're typing from the sound of the keys. Or even what you're seeing on the screen [mit.edu].
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If they turn on the microphone, you've got them. Then, when you're sure they're listening, have a conversation all about the horrific and eventually fatal torture you'd inflict on the managers if you ever got fired or found out they were spying on you. Just act out your own part and the voice of some horrified other person.
Then, they're stuck.
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Then you get thrown in jail for threatening the life of another person, unless you hire a really expensive lawyer who can prove that you were simply exercising your first amendment rights and had no intention to follow through with your "plans".
FTFY
And yes I know you were making a joke.
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Actually, you couldn't get thrown into jail. You were just trying out an idea for a play (that explains why you were acting both parts, do the other person's voice for the police). You can hardly be blamed for wanting to do get away from the sort of employer who spies on their employees.
Then you sue. An employer spying on their employees like that should generate near instant hatred amongst a jury. They'll desperately want to punish the employer from the very start of the trial.
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You were just trying out an idea for a play
I think you missed the part about hiring an expensive lawyer to combat your employers expensive lawyers in order to prove that is what was happening :P
But maybe I'm just being pessimistic.
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Their expensive lawyer has nothing to do with you going to jail or not, only the DA would and it's not a strong case. Their lawyer WILL advise them that testifying on the public record that they spy on employees might not be a great idea. Their PR people will fully agree.
Their expensive lawyer might also advise them that they would be smart to settle with you ASAP rather than telling a jury that they spy on people (especially if the 'play' took place in the bathroom or if in your inevitable interview w/ the
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I guess that would be doable pretty easily with current technology. It's called a bug. Supposedly not legal without a warrant and all that.
I have been offered company phones at several jobs, and I always turn them down. I would rather pay for my own phone, and retain control over when (or if) I answer it. I have friends who have been carpeted by the boss for not answering their phones when they were in the loo. I w
Re:It works (Score:5, Funny)
But my code's compiling! http://xkcd.com/303/ [xkcd.com]
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My code has been compiling for the last two hours. Over and over and over, just to make sure it REALLY works and compiles fine!
Hey, if other people may repeat the same actions over and over on their computer, hoping that something magically works the second time after it failed to work the first time, so may I!
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Back in the day when I first got into programming, it was not uncommon for compiles to run for 10 hours or more. I sometimes used to take a sleeping-bag into the machine-room with me. If the compile bailed, I would be woken up by the clatter of the core dump being output to a 1600 line/min barrel printer.
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Back in the day when I first got into programming, it was not uncommon for compiles to run for 10 hours or more.
Back in the day? It takes the hardware engineers round here 22 hours to compile their device. If you find a bug in the hardware, come back tomorrow. If the compiler doesn't crash running on a machine with a mere 12Gb of memory,
If I suspected my boss issued such a phone (Score:2)
I would have it turned off most of the time.
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I'd do shit like holding it, and moving it back and forth while climbing the stairs. Then they'd be wondering "Why the hell is this guy always vacuuming the stairs?"
Either that, or I'd be constantly shaking it, and doing weird shit with it, just to screw up their tracking....
Re:If I suspected my boss issued such a phone (Score:5, Funny)
Think of 2 stepper motors hooked up with USB and a small gyroscope cradle for the phone. Lego mindstorms should have something that will fit the bill.
"Sir, employee 3392 is doing barrel rolls again!"
Re:If I suspected my boss issued such a phone (Score:5, Funny)
Attach to a drill and give it a spin. Tell them you had a bit of trouble on your way in to work. Let them rack their brains figuring out what happened.
Re:If I suspected my boss issued such a phone (Score:5, Funny)
Re:If I suspected my boss issued such a phone (Score:4, Insightful)
With a name like "clarkkent09" i'm surprised you didn't at least pick a DC superhero to use for that joke, but it was hilarious nonetheless. Too bad I don't have mod points.
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He sits in a wheelchair, you insensitive clod!
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Hrmm, even better, just gaffer tape it to a wheel on your car, worst case you get to work and its still there, best case its... well, the accelerometer likely won't be the same again :)
I wonder... (Score:2, Funny)
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On the production end of the hammer would work wonders!
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I wouldn't really call it production, the only end of the jack hammer that produces anything is the reciprocating motor (movement). I would refer to it more as "the business end" of the jack hammer :)
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Get a desktop centrifuge. As far as they're concerned, you'd be accelerating at 5 G while sitting still. :)
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Either that, or I'd be constantly shaking it, and doing weird shit with it, just to screw up their tracking....
Hmm, I wonder if there's an app for embedding an iPhone in a hackysack ball for keeping score.
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Only if you're moving it too quickly.....
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I would have it turned off most of the time.
But what if it's an iPhone?
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Wow, a perfect match! (Score:5, Interesting)
"Wow, look how perfectly these accelerations overlay!"
Re:Wow, a perfect match! (Score:5, Funny)
They carefully locked the office door, just in case, and let the hot and steamy action begin... completely ignoring the security camera from the parking lot that happened to point directly at their office window!
Next time folks, not only lock the office door, but also close the blinds!
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Re:Wow, a perfect match! (Score:5, Funny)
True story. My now retired dad had his own company, with about 120 employees. One night he was working late and when closing off, he found the head of the tech design department screwing the cleaning lady. My dad told him the conversation went like this:
Cleaning lady: *moan*
Manager: "Oh yeah!"
Dad: *opens door*
Dad: "Oh hi there!"
Manager: "Get lost, Paul!!"
Dad: *laughs* "Don't forget the lights when you're done!"
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Sorry, but a world in which that is going to get you into trouble, is a sick and disgusting world that I wouldn’t want to live in.
If it would happen in my company, I’d be happy. I’d just tell them that if they have a relationship, and if that relationship is ending, then they can’t work in close proximity anymore.
(I’d also leave it to them, what to do with the camera recordings.)
I believe in relationships in a company. How are you going to be a team if you don’t like each
link to article (Score:5, Informative)
Unintended consequences (Score:2, Interesting)
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Privacy verses Surveillence [feeddistiller.com] Feed @ Feed Distiller [feeddistiller.com]
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Let 'em track it! (Score:1)
In schools (Score:1)
It broke again. (Score:5, Insightful)
The accelerometer clearly shows me working when this one fell too. I suppose you will have to assign me another one. Well, I'm a team player sir, you can just get me a cheap phone for work use since I seem to be so hard on them.
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And that is exactly what will happen. They are too easy to break, lose, steal, and then there is the forgot it at home, forgot to charge it, and myriad ways to defeat the system.
A second thought: Do companies actually still pay for cell phones? Is that a perk I should be asking for?
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If its part of your job, then usually they do.
For instance on-call workers typically need a particular phone to support their companies dispatch software. A lot of them just use i-Phones because, well, "there's an app for that".
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I'm so glad when our company quit paying for ours. We were no longer 'on call'. If you couldn't reach us at our desk. SUCK IT.
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response (Score:4, Insightful)
No, that's all right, we'll just deduct the replacement cost from your pay. That will help teach you to be more responsible with company property.
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*nod* I am in a place which requires you to write a humble letter of apology if you lose or misplace your access card.
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No, that's all right, we'll just deduct the replacement cost from your pay. That will help teach you to be more responsible with company property.
No, it'll teach the company about Wage & Labor laws, the hard way.
It's illegal to require, ask, or even accept repayment from an employee for loss, damages, or theft of company products, resources, etc. You can write them up, fire them, file charges for theft, negligence, or intentional destruction, and try to get the money back that way, but you can't just dip into their checks.
For example if you handle cash & it comes up short, they can NOT ask you to repay it or accept payment to avoid a write-up
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My Boss would wonder if I was alive. (Score:2, Funny)
Dude... (Score:5, Insightful)
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I think there's a "you're in deep shit" joke in there somewhere, but I'm too tired to dig for it.
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Apple might already be using the accelerometer and gps, and in the future thermometer and gas analyzer, to determine what services you are likely to buy and what happened to the device that might void warranty.
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Re:Dogs can fly too (Score:3, Interesting)
A few years back, the Iditarod added GPS trackers to some of the top drivers sleds so their position and speed could be displayed to users who subscribed to the 'Iditarod Insider' service. One of the guys wasn't too happy about this and gave his tracker to one of the supply aircraft...Lookie... is now going 150 mph, in the wrong direction, at 3000' agl...awesome dog team!
Actually, the experiment went over really well with those who follow the race so this year everyone got a tracker. It's pretty cool to b
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Now if only we still had phone booths...
There's a corner in my city with three of them in a row. Full booths too, not kiosks.
Pennsylvania school district (Score:5, Funny)
The Pennsylvania school district announces that they plan to end their controversial laptop policy and give harmless cell phones to their students to make up for spying on them.
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So they've not convicted them of pedophilia and forced them out of a position of public trust and made them put signs in their yards.
I'm disappointed.
How about leaving it in a bag or on a bench (Score:4, Insightful)
Track that you nosey idiots. Unless they're going to stipulate that all employees must WEAR their phones.
Re:How about leaving it in a bag or on a bench (Score:4, Insightful)
If a company wants to track your every movement throughout the day, how hard is it to imagine they would also require you to wear the tracking device?
This is a good thing (Score:4, Insightful)
If my boss wants to buy this phone, great. They've just given me a big neon flashing sign warning me that they're a control freak. I can now either move to a different department or start looking for a new job.
I'd rather have obvious signs I can't miss that my boss likes to create a hostile work environment, rather than subtle signs I might miss at first. The more blatant they are, the better.
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Easy workaround (Score:2)
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If they do turn on the mike, the toilet is exactly where you want to take the phone. Especially after eating the mexican food with extra refried beans.
If you play it up right, you could traumatize them for life.
Re:Traumatize (Score:2)
Here's some study material.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uV8boXLV0ik&feature=related [youtube.com]
Livestock (Score:4, Insightful)
If I had a boss that tried to make his workers use something like this, I'd quit my job.
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I'd wonder if they're still in business. People who are good at what they're doing tend to find jobs anywhere. People who're bad at what they're doing have to swallow whatever their boss subjects them to.
Guess which group keeps a company afloat and which one sinks it.
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I'd wonder if they're still in business. People who are good at what they're doing tend to find jobs anywhere. People who're bad at what they're doing have to swallow whatever their boss subjects them to.
True, in general. But there's an interesting cautionary tale (by the guy who founded HowStuffWorks.com, oddly enough) that posits a corollary -- what if you were bad at doing something once, but an all-knowing never-forgetting system prevents you from *ever* putting it behind you?
Sounds ideal for man-down and the like... (Score:5, Insightful)
At the moment you can buy a horrifically expensive option board for some radios that does exactly this. That way you can tell if the HT that is supposed to be clipped to your security guard's belt as he walks around your bonded warehouse has suddenly gone horizontal. Another application is in shopping centres where it's pretty handy to be able to track where cleaners and security guards are - and have been in the past. Why? Nosiness? Spying? No.
Mouth-breathing Chav Scum: "ZOMG I SLIPPED AND FELL OVER ON THAT DROPPED ICE CREAM CONE THERE! THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN CLEARED UP STRAIGHT AWAY! I'M GONNA SUUUUUUUUEEE!!!"
You: "Well, let's see, the cleaner went past there three minutes ago, so it can't have been like that for long."
MBCS: "But... But... Butt..."
or alternatively:
You: "Right, who's doing the guard tour, oh it's Wee Wullie. That's funny, he's been standing at the same bit for a couple of minutes now, moving around quite a lot though. Wonder if everything's okay?"
<clicky on CCTV console>
You: "Aha, righty. Let's send Big Davie down to give him some 'assistance' there..."
Jailbreak it, sire. (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Jailbreak it, sire. (Score:4, Insightful)
Marketing fail (Score:3, Insightful)
Seriously, who's the marketing genius and why isn't he fired yet?
Can't you forsee what's going to happen? Unions will be all over it, key employees will complain and go ballistic over it, threatening to quit if they're not let off the leash.
Solution: Market it to overprotective parents. Kids have neither unions nor can they quit their parents.
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Exactly. And teach them the most important lesson of our society nowadays: Be a total dick, terrorize even small children and take away everyone’s privacy... just because you can, or because you’re insane (what you call “overprotective”)!
For a greater tomorrow! Yay!
Strap a ... (Score:2)
2. Hang it on a pendulum and use a blutooth to use it.
3. Leave it on a speaker
4. Use an iPhone that doesn't parrallel process.
There are two kinds of employees (Score:5, Insightful)
Being a boss is easy, there are only two kind of employees. Lazy ones, who will slack of any chance they get and perform at best at a level just above firing, and good employees who take pride in their job.
It will cost a fortune to turn a lazy one into a good one. It will save you money to turn a good one into a lazy one, in the short term. It is easy, just keep cutting benefits, breaks, perks and up the work load while micro-managing them to hell.
But most managers/bosses feel they need to earn their keep by showing they are making the people work the hardest. If you spend the money of those kind of managers and their bag of tricks on salary, you would be able to hire the absolute best and have people fighting to stay with your company. Go ahead, offer a cleaner 50% above average wage. No problems filling vacancies, no need to watch their every move and you get motivated employees who got a reason not to exchange you the moment they a chance. Because even cleaning staff builds up a lot of knowledge you can't easily replace with the Xth temp because your turn-over rate is 100%.
By all means, you go tech to try to manage those who can only earn the lowest wages, I pay a bit more and get the cream. In the end, I know who is more efficient.
One small step for man... (Score:2)
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Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Could there be positive applications? (Score:5, Interesting)
OK, I guess we're all against the potentially creepy applications of this.
But could there be useful ones? Most people carry cell phones, could this be used to monitor people with known history of health problems, such as heart disease, or the elderly?
If my cell phone detected that I'd just had a stroke, or that one of my parents had just had a fall, and was unconscious at the bottom of a staircase, and informed the emergency services, then that would be the kind of intrusion that I could accept.
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* Detect if suddenly dropped/gone horizontal and no further movement - e.g. a lone worker alarm, that flags if someone might have tripped or fainted etc
* Detect if a driver has been driving for over x hours and suggest they pull in for a break
* Track a security guard on his roudns so that if anything happens, they know where he is and where he's been - alternative to the manual punch-in waypoint stations they have in industrial settings
* Use for automatic clock in/
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
GREAT! I should have read this earlier... (Score:2, Funny)
... my boss just asked me how my interview went.
If you don't trust your employee..... (Score:5, Insightful)
Then why did you hire them.
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Can't you at least use a skunk?
But do it just before going home, and make sure you call in sick the next day. Else you'll call in sick the day after.