Following the production of a new mobile phone in Japan there are concerns that if the phone is rolled out to the UK and other countries it could be exploited by company bosses for ’spying’ on workers.
Mobile phones have become part of everyday life for many people, and these days people use mobile phones not just for personal use but also in their jobs. With so many workers now using mobile phones whilst going about their working duties employers often provide the devices for their employees, particularly for those that have to go out and about as part of their jobs and may need to contact clients or colleagues.
It has been reported that a new mobile phone device has been developed in Japan that is able to track even the tiniest movement of the person that has the phone, and can then report this data back to the workplace nominated recipient for the information. This has raised concerns that if the mobile phone is rolled out to the UK and other countries it could be exploited by employers who want to pry or keep tabs on what their employees are doing.
An official from the University of Japan stated: “Technically, I think this is an incredibly important innovation.
For example, when applied to the issue of telemedicine, or other situations in which remotely monitoring or accessing an individual’s personal movements is vital to that service. But there will surely be negative consequences when applied to employee tracking or sales force optimisation.”
The KDDI Corporation, which developed the technology, stated: “It’s part of our research into a total ubiquitous technology society, and activity recognition is an important part of that. Because this technology will make central monitoring possible with workers at several different locations, businesses especially are very interested in using such technology to improve the efficiency of their workers. We are now at a stage where we can offer managers a chance to analyse more closely the behaviour of staff.”
Source – BBC
