CyPurr Session: Who's the Boss - Bossware, AI, and Workplace Surveillance

In this session, we will discuss “bossware” and workplace surveillance: how digital tools are used to monitor, track and record employees, and what it means for workers’ privacy and autonomy. Bossware includes a range of tools from keystroke tracking and screen monitoring software to biometric collection and facial recognition technology, meaning no industry is safe from its reach. Additionally, artificial intelligence is increasingly being used workplace surveillance tools to expand the scope of data being collected and analyzed, posing a risk of increased discrimination and bias in employment-related decisions. We will talk about the real-life ramifications of bossware, the changing legal and legislative landscape, and how increased surveillance contributes to an already unequal power balance that undermines workers’ trust and autonomy. Special Guest Speakers: Dr. Samantha Dalal is a human-computer interaction researcher who studies and builds pathways for communities to participate in the design and monitoring of AI systems. Her research focuses on the future of work, specifically in the informal and platform economies. Dr. Dalal co-directs the Workers Algorithm Observatory, where she builds and maintains tools that help workers collect and utilize data to investigate black-box algorithmic management systems. She is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at the Princeton University Center for Information Technology Policy. She holds a Ph.D. in Information Science from the University of Colorado Boulder and a B.A in Economics and Statistics from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Tech Workers Coalition (TWC) is a coalition of workers in and around the tech industry, labor organizers, community organizers, and friends. We work in solidarity with existing movements towards social justice, workers’ rights, and economic inclusion. Guided by our vision for an inclusive and equitable tech industry, TWC organizes to build worker power through rank-and-file self-organization and education. The CyPurr Collective is a group of some tech-minded folks who are very jazzed about cybersecurity, cats, and helping folks out with their digital dilemmas. We offer workshops for activists, journalists, educators, and everyday folks who want to up their encryption game!