Colombia: Teleperformance workers’ contract allows monitoring by AI-powered cameras, voice analytics and storage of data collected from family members

CalMatters
“Big Tech call center workers face pressure to accept home surveillance”, 08 August 2021
...Six workers based in Colombia for Teleperformance, one of the world’s largest call center companies, which counts Apple, Amazon and Uber among its clients, said that they are concerned about the new contract, first issued in March. The contract allows monitoring by AI-powered cameras in workers’ homes, voice analytics and storage of data collected from the worker’s family members, including minors...Teleperformance spokesman Mark Pfeiffer said…[:]...” “We are committed to fair practices, equality, inclusion, diversity, non-discrimination, labor sustainability, ethics, and transparency...and we will continue to do everything we can to uphold these values for both our teams and all our key stakeholders.” The contract seeks consent for a wide range of possible scenarios to ensure that Teleperformance complies with data privacy laws as it continues to develop tools to optimize long-term work from home for employees and clients, he said...Apple spokesperson Nick Leahy said...The document asks workers to agree to having video cameras installed in their home or on their computers, pointing at their workspace, to record and monitor workers in real time. It also states that workers agree to Teleperformance using AI-powered video analysis tools that can identify objects around the workspace, including mobile phones, paper and other items that are restricted by Teleperformance’s security policies. They must also agree to sharing data and images related to any children they have under the age of 18 — who might get picked up by video and audio monitoring tools — and to sharing biometric data including fingerprints and photos. There is also a clause that requires workers to take polygraph tests if requested….Uber said that it requested monitoring for its workers, but not the entire workforce...Amazon spokesperson Alyssa Bronikowski said that Amazon did not request any additional monitoring for at-home workers...