Big Mother: The Dark Side Of Wearable Technology

Who owns the data collected by wearable technology? Jessica Furseth looks into the Big Mother world, where employers would have access to your FitBit and keep track of your movements.

What is the Big Mother society? This is the potential dark side of wearable technology, where the government or an employer could monitor people’s behaviour not just via CCTV or computer logins, but access detail down to the heartbeat.
It’s the stuff of futuristic films, but the fact is that we’re already giving a lot of information about ourselves and our movements away. It’s not too far-fetched to imagine how this information could be used by an unscrupulous company to “optimise efficiency” among workers. The technology to enable this frightening prospect is already here, as 2015 is expected to be a boom year for wearable technology.
Two-thirds of staff already bring wearable technology into the workplace, according to a survey by IT security firm Trend Micro, and the number is expected to rise in the coming year. Right now, the only people to have access to this data are the staff themselves, plus the company that owns the devices – but it’s not inconceivable that this could change.
Then there are initiatives such as Google’s ‘Glass At Work’ programme which promotes how Glass can be useful for people working in highly technical jobs, such as engineering or medicine. The work-relevant monitoring of those employees is bound to rub up against their privacy, but people don’t actually seem too concerned. Research suggests that people are very interested in how wearable technology can improve our work lives. A study from Workforce Institute at Kronos, surveying of 9000 people across eight countries, found that 73% saw a benefit to wearable technology in the workplace, particularly in terms of how it could enhance productivity, efficiency and safety.
The good news for those who find the Big Mother society terrifying is that data collected from wearable technology is covered under the UK Data Protection Act. As for its use by employers, lawyers have started looking at the legal aspects of wearable technology at work:
“Companies embracing the use of wearable technology, for instance to enhance customer service, are likely to reap the rewards,” Sarah Burke, employment lawyer at Thomas Eggar, wrote in ‘Computer Weekly’. “But such action is likely to result in the collation of personal data which will need to be handled carefully.”
Chances are the advancement of wearable technology will move ahead of legislation, meaning companies will be left to manage the ethics of this situation themselves. Concluded Eggar: “The use of [wearable technology] will no doubt become second nature to individuals. But to reap the benefits, businesses should assess the individual risks to their organisation and take proactive action now while wearable tech is still on the rise, to minimise a fall-out later on.”