- 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.
Who thinks about starting a tech company for the purpose of snitching?
The same people who publicly justify their lack of humanity with well rehearsed elevator pitches, all neatly wrapped up in vague altruism and social benefit jargon.
Rich folks of course. They like to meddle with and control the lives of the social classes beneath them. It makes them feel powerful. Same reason it’s back to the office.
I worked at one of those my first job out of college. The dude that started it was a used car salesman turned “serial entrepreneur”.
Oh lord. I bet he was such a joy to be around.
The type of people that get themselves in to Entrepreneurship for the sole reason of not specifically solving a problem they’re interested in but that just want to be seen as important “i can business” people so they over promises a layer of AI on top of random situations in hopes they can hold together a charade long enough to get VC interest and an exit.
—often backed by Silicon Valley venture capital—
Not all “startups” are created equal I guess
Yeah this is big brother still. It refers as much to a single entity as it does to an actual older sibling.
Reminder that any sort of workplace surveillance is outright illegal in some EU countries. It could even be considered a criminal act.
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.
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.
So they’re doing just as well as the US?
big brother isn’t the future
its a wonderful, wholesome, big family we can expect, everyone watching everyone else
which isn’t much better ngl
Well let’s not forget big brother. Just know we live in a panopticon and we all need to band together to make change happen
**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.
You love to see it <3 Hope the IWW or similar organizations will gain some momentum here.
So why are we making the Combine from Vacuum Flowers?
