Office workers are not the only ones who feel they are being shadowed. Already, global positioning systems allow truck drivers to be reached on the road, but can also monitor the length of their rest stops. Cellular phone systems can locate anyone using a phone in their car. And there’s more to come. Olivetti and Xerox are developing an “active badge,” a device which allows workers to be tracked around the company premises. The badge reveals its wearer’s location by emitting an infrared signal every 15 seconds to a network … In the face of such ominous devices, workplace privacy advocates take some comfort from the hope that eventually employers will discover that extensive monitoring is bad for business.
Predictor: Workplace Advocates
Prediction, in context:In their book “The Right to Privacy,” Ellen Alderman and Caroline Kennedy address issues of privacy in the workplace. They write: ”Office workers are not the only ones who feel they are being shadowed. Already, global positioning systems allow truck drivers to be reached on the road, but can also monitor the length of their rest stops. Cellular phone systems can locate anyone using a phone in their car. And there’s more to come. Olivetti and Xerox are developing an ‘active badge,’ a device which allows workers to be tracked around the company premises. The badge reveals its wearer’s location by emitting an infrared signal every 15 seconds to a network of wall-mounted sensors around the building. The information provided – including the name and location of the badge-wearer, the number of other badge-wearers in the room, the length of time they have been there, and the nearest telephone extension – are all displayed and updated on a central computer screen. So far, the badge is only worn by a few hundred workers in research centers, but the company plans to introduce it widely in the next couple of years. In the face of such ominous devices, workplace privacy advocates take some comfort from the hope that eventually employers will discover that extensive monitoring is bad for business.”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Controversial Issues
Subtopic: Privacy/Surveillance
Name of publication: The Right to Privacy
Title, headline, chapter name: Privacy in the Workplace
Quote Type: Paraphrase
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Page 317
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney