Microsoft Patents ‘SPY’ Software: Turn around and beware!

Posted January 19, 2008 at 06:27 AM by Marjorie Dorfman

Section: Computers, Software / Applications

Are you proud of everything on your office computer? Are those items you might not be so eager to display really hidden from the view and scrutiny of others? Alas, for the answer is now unequivocally “no.” Your office PC, thanks to Microsoft’s new Big Brother-style software, may now be considered a weapon loaded with ammunition!

This new software is a lazy, ineffectual office worker’s nightmare, for it is capable of remotely monitoring a worker’s productivity, physical well being and competence. This monitoring system would enable computers to wirelessly pick up on a user’s heart rate, galvanic skin response, brain signals, body temperature, facial movements and expressions, blood pressure, and respiration rate. Previously, this technology was only the headache of pilots, fire fighters and NASA astronauts. This patent from Microsoft marks the very first time a company has proposed such a software for use in mainstream offices.

The US Patent Office confirmed that the application was published last month, 18 months after being filed. Patent lawyers said that it could be granted within a year. According to The Information Commissioner’s Office:

“Imposing this level of intrusion on employees could only be justified in exceptional circumstances.”

Although there’s no question that by any definition of the word “privacy” in any language that this new software violates it, there is an empathetic rationale behind it. The spyware does provide a means for employers to “troubleshoot” problem behaviors and issues and nip them in the bud, so to speak. It is obvious, however, that the mere mention of this idea is causing civil liberties groups and privacy attorneys to check their elevated heart and pulse rates more often than was previously necessary.

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