Workplace surveillance tools are dispersing data more extensively than employees might suspect. A newly published study reveals that numerous such tools transmit information not only to employers but also to digital advertising platforms and data brokers. Stephanie Nguyen, senior fellow at Columbia Law School’s Center for Law and the Economy and former FTC chief technologist, led the study. Nine “bossware” services were reviewed, and all were found to share data with third parties like Facebook, Google, and Microsoft. Despite some platforms defending their data-sharing practices, the study indicated that workers’ data was disseminated to external entities. The researchers conducted tests and intercepted data to discover that workers’ personal information, including web activities and locations, was transferred. They stress that this could establish a “shadow ‘worker reputation economy’” persisting beyond employment. The study advocates for strict constraints on worker data sharing and calls on law enforcers to scrutinize third-party sharing for potential violations.
Your Boss’s Tracking App Shares Data with Meta and Google
1 Min Read