This week we discuss the growing use of workplace surveillance technologies, triggered by a legal case involving an Australian compliance training company. The case highlights the use of monitoring software that records an employee's screen activity and even their conversations detected by laptop microphones. With employees increasingly working from home, the case speaks to broader implications for worker privacy and employee-employer trust relationships.
Links:
Article about Safetrac case (AFR) https://www.afr.com/work-and-careers/workplace/company-turned-laptops-into-covert-recording-devices-to-monitor-wfh-20250822-p5mp0z
Article about the trend of workplace surveillance (Guardian) https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/apr/27/remote-work-software-home-surveillance-computer-monitoring-pandemic
OAIC summary of workplace monitoring and surveillance laws https://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/your-privacy-rights/surveillance-and-monitoring/workplace-monitoring-and-surveillance
Vic Gov inquiry into workplace surveillance https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/49a1f1/contentassets/5232a88edcc34487aa0223bcbb2c8974/laeic-60-02-inquiry-into-workplace-surveillance2.pdf
