The prediction, in brief:

This stuff often increases the gap between managers and workers. If managers really believe in monitoring, let’s apply it in a more universal way and require managers to be monitored electronically … now with the mediated and potentially unseen nature of this, it creates a sense of fear and stress, because employees really never know when they are being watched.

Predictor: Marx, Gary

Prediction, in context:

In a 1995 article for Wired magazine, John Whalen does a bit of surveillance at the American Society for Industrial Security’s annual convention, and quotes sociologist Gary Marx of the University of Colorado. Whalen writes:”‘We shouldn’t re-create the company town,’ says Gary Marx, a sociologist at the University of Colorado who has written extensively on technologies ‘that can extract personal information’ and threaten privacy. Marx argues that intrusive monitoring not only invites managerial abuse – providing cover for illegal attempts to thwart unionizing efforts, for example – it also elevates inequity in the workplace. ‘This stuff often increases the gap between managers and workers,’ he says. ‘If managers really believe in monitoring, let’s apply it in a more universal way and require managers to be monitored electronically.’ The economic ‘damage that can be done by a few corrupt or unprofessional executives is really far greater than somebody taking a little too long on a coffee break,’ he adds. According to Marx, extractive technologies have upset another fundamental balance in the workplace. ‘Traditionally, on an assembly line, there would be a supervisor who would walk by,’ he explains, ‘and you knew who that person was. You also knew when he or she was there. That may have generated some anxiety, but in fact, you could gear your behavior accordingly. But now with the mediated and potentially unseen nature of this, it creates a sense of fear and stress, because employees really never know when they are being watched.’ In other words, Big Bro could be tuning in any time.”

Date of prediction: January 1, 1995

Topic of prediction: Controversial Issues

Subtopic: Privacy/Surveillance

Name of publication: Wired

Title, headline, chapter name: You’re Not Paranoid: They Really Are Watching You: Surveillance in the Workplace is Getting Digitized – and Getting Worse

Quote Type: Direct quote

Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.03/security_pr.html

This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney