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Image source, Microsoft
Sensors in a meeting room are labeled in this diagram from a Microsoft patent application.
With all the privacy questions that come with it, the technology for tracking body language and facial expressions in business meetings is one step closer to reality.
Microsoft requested a patent on a Softwarewhich can be used to record employee gestures in work areas and assigning “quality scores” to meetings.
The petition to US regulators suggests this could be implemented at business meetings face to face, but also in those that are made on line.
And they would achieve this through multiple sensors monitoring attendees, which has already raised concerns about the privacy of the people being observed.
Microsoft, in fact, is already facing criticism for a similar tool it establishes “score” on employee productivity.
This feature was introduced last year but rose to fame until a public demonstration at a corporate event.
It allows managers to track every employee’s use of Microsoft Office 365, including Outlook email programs, Excel spreadsheets, and Teams meetings.
Image source, Getty Images
Tracking sensors would make it easier to identify if employees are paying attention to other things during meetings.
Microsoft notes that the feature isn’t enabled by default and suggests its main focus is on identifying deficiencies in computer equipment.
But critics say it is in fact an employee surveillance tool.
What could the sensors monitor?
Companies don’t always make use of the patents they register. But they often reveal ideas being developed before they appear in commercial products.
The details of what they call “computerized information system for meetings” they were unveiled in July before going public this month.
They say the sensors could register:
- Which guests are actually attending a meeting.
- The body language and the facial expressions of the participants.
- The amount of time each participant spent contributions At the meeting.
- Speech patterns “consistent with boredom and fatigue”.
Image source, Getty Images
Regardless of the topic of discussion, business meetings could serve as an opportunity to complain and get noticed by colleagues.
The details also suggest that employee mobile devices could be used for monitoring if they were simultaneously active in other activities, such as sending text messages or browsing the Internet, as well as plan the controls to be considered if they had to attend other meetings on the same day.
All of this information would be combined with other factors, such as “how efficient the meeting was, an emotional feeling expressed by the meeting attendees, or how comfortable the meeting environment was,” all to generate an “overall quality score,” says Microsoft. .
“False premise”
The patent also suggests that the technology could be used identify problems this can make meetings ineffective.
For example, if too many people are involved in a room or if the place gets uncomfortably hot in the sun.
“Many organizations are filled with overly long, under-attended, and recurring meetings that could be altered or avoided if more information on the quality of the meetings were available,” the patent application states.
Image source, Getty Images
Gesture surveillance could be possible in both face-to-face and virtual meetings.
But a privacy activist suggested that the system it would be “invasive” and a “big step backwards for workers’ rights”.
“This kind of Software Employee surveillance hampers diversity in the workplace by operating on the false premise that there is a uniform and regulatory way in which people work optimally, ”warns Silkie Carlo, director of Big Brother Watch.
“Lots of surveillance technology it is marketed as “revolutionary” but is actually surprisingly backward“.
“Discriminatory” results
A Microsoft representative said it applied for “a lot of patents” to protect the work its engineers did.
“However, the patent application it does not necessarily indicate that the technology described will be implemented on a product, “they added.
Image source, Getty Images
In 2018, a study revealed that 56% of workers in the UK believe they are being spied on.
But this comes when the United States Congress of Labor released a report on the use of technology at work.
The paper “analyzes exactly this type of technology and the dangers of the results unfair and discriminatory they raise for workers, “said Mary Towers, congressional policy officer.
“In particular, we advocate greater consultation and transparency by workers on when technologies such as facial and speech recognition are used and how they are used to make decisions about people at work.”
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