Related Sections: Miscellaneous Security Software
Japanese office workers get the Big Brother treatment
The characters in George Orwell's 1984 had it good compared to Japanese workers tagged with new technology created by DSS Co. Ltd. The firm created a system that allows companies to track the movements and actions of their workers down to the last detail.
The tracking kit includes a tiny video camera attached to the worker's chest pocket, an ankle sensor (yes, like the one they hand out for house arrest) and "milestone" sensor points that monitor how long an employee stays in a particular area. But the price DSS is charging for giving companies the power of Big Brother is steep: two-day data collection and software rental/analysis for 980,000 yen ($10,434). Hopefully, the cost alone will be enough to keep this kind of thing away from any office near you.
Via Nikkei
By phobos55 at 9:36 AM ON 07/16/09
wow, talk about creepy. Thought Japanese business men had it tough already, but this is going a little over board...
By saris at 12:41 PM ON 07/16/09
Pretty sure that would be illegal in the US, and if not, it should be.
Looks like a great way to lower moral and push a lot of employees into going postal.
By IsoTek at 10:17 PM ON 07/16/09
@SARIS....PARC XEROX created a functional tracking badge for it's employees some years ago. It operated on infra red and signaled nodes set up around the campus. Basically you could track someone by going to a map screen and typing in their name. Their badge would show exactly where they were and had the ability to be activated to vibrate as a means to call them to an information display and notify them of various alerts.
By Wyrdone at 4:02 PM ON 07/17/09
Most companies have something similar to this with RFID touch badges.
By nb at 2:04 PM ON 07/20/09
This appears to be only for work place analysis - not for tracking of all employees. Note that its quoted with 2 day rental. This is likely to be used for designing office layouts and improving efficiency.
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nb:
This appears to be only for work place analysis - not for tracking of all employees. Note that its quoted with 2 da...More »