Security News > 2020 > December > UK union pens letter to data watchdog on icky workplace monitoring systems like Microsoft's Productivity Score

UK trade union Prospect has chimed in with the chorus of disapproval at technologies such as Microsoft's Productivity Score being used on the nation's workers.

The letter [PDF], sent to data watchdog the Information Commissioner's Office, makes clear the disquiet felt at the potential level of employee monitoring afforded even while acknowledging the rapid back-pedalling undertaken by Redmond amid the furore.

"In many ways," the letter says, "This latest example is the mainstreaming of online monitoring tools which raises significant issues including privacy and the process for consultation with workers before such products are introduced."

The letter, signed by such luminaries as shadow digital minister Chi Onwurah MP, calls on the ICO to update its Code of Employment Practices, stating that "The scale of these concerns has outpaced current guidance available." The union also contended that "Any such use of personal data through surveillance should be subject to a Data Protection Impact Assessment before it is introduced."

While the pandemic-driven charge to remote working has left employers and employees alike somewhat breathless, monitoring is hardly a new phenomenon.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2020/12/10/ico_workplace_monitoring/