- The Rise of “Little Tech”: Small startups and SaaS vendors—often backed by Silicon Valley venture capital—are leading the charge in AI-powered workplace surveillance, embedding tracking tools into everyday HR and productivity software.
- Global Surge, Local Collapse: While countries like Brazil, Mexico, and India have privacy laws on paper, enforcement is weak, allowing both domestic and foreign vendors to deploy invasive technologies unchecked.
- Gig Workers as Guinea Pigs: Gig economy workers in sectors like delivery and rideshare are the frontline subjects of AI surveillance, subjected to real-time tracking, biometric scans, and even models that predict union activity.
- Surveillance Disguised as Care: AI surveillance is increasingly framed as a tool for safety, wellness, and productivity—masking coercive oversight in the language of health and efficiency.
- Privacy Theater: Many vendors offer copy-paste privacy notices while quietly retaining worker data indefinitely. In countries like Mexico and Colombia, some companies even conduct home visits and collect data on workers’ families.
- Workers are Fighting Back: From sanitation workers in India to ride-hail drivers in Nigeria, workers are resisting algorithmic control—organizing protests, forming unions, and demanding AI transparency.
The full report
These are all important points and it sounds like a summary of everything that is wrong in IT wonderland.
I guess the report goes into more detail, I guess they needed some nice headline to wrap it in, but - I wonder where they draw the line between “Big” and “Little” tech or why it’s supposed to be a big gotcha that not only the biggest corporations employ outright evil tactics, exploit workers globally.
I feel there’s a certain sad irony about the domain on that link.