Companies increased surveillance of people working essential jobs during the pandemic, with often harmful impacts, according to the report “Essentially Unprotected” from Data & Society. Surveillance caused fear and frustration on top of the stress of COVID-19, and workers report that a lack of transparency forced additional exposure risks. It exposes the social, economic, and regulatory environment that allows for surveillance and information gaps and technology that enabled it.
The MacArthur-supported report shares experiences from interviews with people who worked in grocery, warehouses, manufacturing, and food processing, and it shows how people worked together to protect themselves through unions and other formal and informal organizing. The report is available in both English and Spanish, and Data & Society hosted a video discussion of the report and how workers managed the challenges.
