"Almost no laws protect workers from secret employer surveillance. A California bill would fix that," 24 Apr. 2022

The scope of workplace surveillance exploded during the pandemic as millions of workers turned their homes into offices.

… This virtual intrusion is largely unregulated, but newly introduced California legislation would put some guardrails on the practice. … California Assemblymember Ash Kalra introduced the Workplace Technology Accountability Act that would require employers to tell workers that their data is being collected. 

… “We want to make sure that we're ahead of the game and making sure that those kinds of [technologies] aren't used against the worker, certainly not without their consent,” says Kalra, citing recent advancements in facial recognition software that purports to monitor emotions. 

… Cynthia Khoo, a senior associate at Georgetown University’s Center on Privacy & Technology, calls the proposed legislation significant in a law landscape that has not caught up to technological innovations as they relate to workplace protections. “It’s unprecedented in its scope and how it is exclusively targeting workers’ rights in a technological context,” she told Fortune.