Bugs Bunny famously asked, “Did ya ever get the feeling you was bein watched?”
Always good for a laugh. But there’s nothing funny to some Chinese workers about their activities being monitored by something called the “Third Eye.”
Chinese tech companies are into some extreme surveillance.
As part of a Business Insider report, Jiang Yi, 32, talked about his experience working in the 9-9-6 world (9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week).
“I was working 12 to 16 hours a day writing code,” he told the outlet. “I reached the point of breakdown when my boss came to me one day waving a piece of paper asking me why I watched two videos instead of doing my work.”
His Beijing company used surveillance software DiSanZhiYan — “Third Eye” — to log the time spent on various websites.
This kind of software exists in many countries, but not usually to this degree.
Third Eye capabilities include checking on chat activity, providing a real-time stream of what the worker is currently seeing and then, this: “Efficiency reports” for supervisors.
The system basically tells on the employees for perceived misbehavior. According to Jiang, it notifies the bosses when it senses a worker is watching videos on streaming sites or looking at job listings (wonder why an employee would be seeking another job?!).
No apologies from the company: It say it’s “all-powerful, controlling, and stable” and “adaptable to all means of subverting surveillance.”
At least it’s not Canon China, where you literally may have to grin and bear it.
An article from Week in China said the company uses a security camera that only admitted employees after they smiled during a daily face scan.
“We are hoping the dull atmosphere caused by the epidemic will be relaxed by smiling faces,” Ehara Taisei, Canon China VP, told Week in China.
Ah, OK.
Add comment