Software to monitor employee health

January 21, 2008 in Microsoft
Tags: Health, Microsoft, Software, Technology

A patent application filed by Microsoft with the US Patent Office reveals that the company is developing software, which might help employers monitor the productivity, competence, and physical well being of their employees.

The software will measure employees’ heart rate, body temperature, brain signals, movement, facial expression, and blood pressure, and will be able to say when they are stressed or frustrated simply by reading heartbeats and facial expressions.
The whole process will be based on a computer system that links workers to their computers via wireless sensors that can measure their metabolism.

All said, civil liberties groups and privacy lawyers are criticizing the project saying it might lead to employees’ dismissal basis a computer assessment of their physiological state.

The ‘Sydney Morning Herald’ even quoted Britain’s Information Commissioners Office as saying that imposing such level of intrusion on employees could only be justified under exceptional circumstances.

Meanwhile, Microsoft which prefers to keep mum on the progress of its projects, said the patent application in general describes an innovation that is aimed at improving activity-monitoring systems, and only uses monitoring of user heart rate as an example of the kind of physical state that can be monitored.

In a statement, Microsoft Vice President of Intellectual Property and Licensing, Horacio Gutierrez, even said it is important to keep in mind that with most organizations in the business of innovation, some of their patent applications reflect inventions that are currently present in their products, while others represent innovations being developed for potential future use.

The US Patent Office meanwhile, has confirmed that Microsoft’s patent application was published last month, eighteen months after being filed. According to Patent lawyers, it could be granted within a year’s time.

source:www.techtree.com

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