IT WAS INEVITABLE: Speech control moves from the campus to the workplace

[WEATHER53]

Businesses do not exist to cow tow to and accommodate your feelings. They exist for you to work there and get paid. If you require more-go to mommy

 

[pknopp]

Your article is "clickbait". Nowhere is it happening.

But are you saying you miss discrimination in the work place?

It isn't happening yet because they're still working on the AI. My point is that it's part of a much larger picture.

I'm saying that you and I have very different standards for freedom of expression.
.

And I asked you about yours but you didn't answer.

I recall articles many years ago about flying cars also......never really happened.

I'll try again: The mere fact that this is being considered is the issue, because it reflects a clear cultural and social trajectory towards more control over freedom of expression.

Individual stories are nearly irrelevant by themselves. Macro trends are the issue.
.

You still didn't answer my question. What are you afraid of happening here?

I'll give you my take on it. Back in my corporate days, sitting through mandatory meetings was painful enough. The basic theme for most business meetings falls in between two concepts:

1. "your teamwork and communication skills suck, and we feel it is starting to affect our bottom line. Shape up, or you're all fired!"
2. "we're still making a profit, so we can keep paying your salaries. You're all superstars. Keep up the great work!" *cue the announcement of raises and promotions and/or creative reasoning for why raises/promotions won't be given out this quarter*

This article highlights research into the use of an interactive networked connected nanny device to be utilized in said meetings as a way to 'support' problem solving. I see that as pure corpspeak horseshit.

I have no idea if Mac feels about it the same way about it or not.

Why do I see it as horseshit? Because I choose not to use such devices (Alexa, et al) in my personal life, nor in my residence, because I value my privacy. Distributing such devices into workplace meeting rooms would make it mandatory in order to keep employment. I see no need for employers to bug their employees like they're in the fucking Gestapo. I also see no need for employers to require a computerized device to evaluate their employee's loyalty to the company, personality, and social awareness to pad their bottom line (IE, a human isn't required, so we save $$$), not to mention the total violation of privacy and free expression the use of such a device entails.

It would essentially be an unregulated H.R. bot for conference rooms, present in every meeting. No thank you. I decline allowing this Big Brother shit to gain any more power over my privacy, and so should anyone else who values theirs.

In a way I agree. This is mostly just the new fad. In the end they don't need this. They just need someone wanting to climb the corporate ladder in the meeting.

 

[Tumblin Tumbleweed]

It isn't happening yet because they're still working on the AI. My point is that it's part of a much larger picture.

I'm saying that you and I have very different standards for freedom of expression.
.

And I asked you about yours but you didn't answer.

I recall articles many years ago about flying cars also......never really happened.

I'll try again: The mere fact that this is being considered is the issue, because it reflects a clear cultural and social trajectory towards more control over freedom of expression.

Individual stories are nearly irrelevant by themselves. Macro trends are the issue.
.

You still didn't answer my question. What are you afraid of happening here?

I'll give you my take on it. Back in my corporate days, sitting through mandatory meetings was painful enough. The basic theme for most business meetings falls in between two concepts:

1. "your teamwork and communication skills suck, and we feel it is starting to affect our bottom line. Shape up, or you're all fired!"
2. "we're still making a profit, so we can keep paying your salaries. You're all superstars. Keep up the great work!" *cue the announcement of raises and promotions and/or creative reasoning for why raises/promotions won't be given out this quarter*

This article highlights research into the use of an interactive networked connected nanny device to be utilized in said meetings as a way to 'support' problem solving. I see that as pure corpspeak horseshit.

I have no idea if Mac feels about it the same way about it or not.

Why do I see it as horseshit? Because I choose not to use such devices (Alexa, et al) in my personal life, nor in my residence, because I value my privacy. Distributing such devices into workplace meeting rooms would make it mandatory in order to keep employment. I see no need for employers to bug their employees like they're in the fucking Gestapo. I also see no need for employers to require a computerized device to evaluate their employee's loyalty to the company, personality, and social awareness to pad their bottom line (IE, a human isn't required, so we save $$$), not to mention the total violation of privacy and free expression the use of such a device entails.

It would essentially be an unregulated H.R. bot for conference rooms, present in every meeting. No thank you. I decline allowing this Big Brother shit to gain any more power over my privacy, and so should anyone else who values theirs.

In a way I agree. This is mostly just the new fad. In the end they don't need this. They just need someone wanting to climb the corporate ladder in the meeting.

Yep. You got it. Cheers.

 

[NewsVine_Mariyam]

I don't know why you all always assume I'm the bad guy in these scenarios. You can't defend yourself or your rights if you don't know what's being done to you.

We really aren't familiar with one another, so I don't understand the logic. I simply don't agree with your comment. Nothing more.

So let's try this. I give you a laptop and a cell phone when you sign on to do work for me which you take with you. You think I'm not within my rights as your employer or the person who pays your invoices to track my electronic devices should anything go wrong?

You can do what you want. I'm an employer too. You seem to believe that providing your employees the infrastructure to do business (laptop, phone) gives you a right to monitor their digital footprints. They essentially trade away their privacy and free expression for a paycheck, correct?

No, that is not correct. It seems that you are saying that I'm violating their privacy by the monitoring of my devices but before one can allege a violation of privacy they have to first establish that there is a reasonable expectation of privacy in the first place.

What privacy do you believe they have and are entitled to while working on my projects utilizing my devices? Do you use your work computer to take care of your personal business or to socialize or play online? I don't and no one else should either, in my opinion, because if they do they open themselves up to potential liability in several different areas.

I recently returned home after having been away for several months and while going through TSA Screening one of the agents seemed interested in the fact that I had 3 laptops. I pointed to each of them and indicated "work, personal and business". Nothing from my business should ever be found on my work computer which I assume is monitored and very little of my personal information other than that which is part of my professional profile should either. All of this for good reason, if you or your company has ever been presented with a litigation hold letter then you'd hopefully understand why.

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[Tijn Von Ingersleben]

I honestly don't see much difference between what you deem 'regressive left' and Cult45 these days. Neither can seem to mind their own business to save their lives.

Businesses don't have ideologies. They have one goal, and that is to make money. Corporate loyalty is a thing of the past (if it ever even existed) and when we realize we're all expendable then there might be avenues to change the paradigm. The continuing Orwellian monitoring of employees is now commonplace as a giant CYA in an overly litigious, sensitive and politically polarized society.

As I say all the time, the two ends can be comically similar in their behaviors.

But I'm not even going as far as the companies themselves. I'm talking about this relentless drive to control, intimidate and punish communication on a macro scale. Political Correctness, Cancel Culture. This story is merely the latest drop in the hurricane.

I'm seeing this control being exerted more and more, and I'll fight it every step of the way. Freedom of expression is the most liberal of all values, it's our most important right, and this shit sure as hell isn't liberal.
.

Again, one has never had or rarely ever had freedom of expression in a place of work.

Again, freedom of expression, like most things, exists on a continuum.

Monitoring and enforcing words used in business meetings for "fairness" or "inclusion" is a clear step in the wrong direction, at least for those of us who are serious about maintaining as much freedom of expression as possible.
.

Your article is "clickbait". Nowhere is it happening.

But are you saying you miss discrimination in the work place?

It isn't happening yet because they're still working on the AI. My point is that it's part of a much larger picture.

I'm saying that you and I have very different standards for freedom of expression.
.

You are a lord, in a kingdom of lies...comrade

 

[blackhawk]

It has been BAD ENOUGH that the Regressive Left has enabled the control of freedom of expression on AMERICAN college campuses (of all fucking places on the planet), and it has already spread into the workplace. But now we're looking at having an "artificial intelligence" device that LISTENS TO WORKPLACE CONVERSATIONS to be sure that we are being "inclusive" and "equal".

I am not making this up.

Could a smart device catch implicit bias in the workplace?

“The vision that we have [for this project] is that you would have a device, maybe something like Amazon Alexa, that sits on the table and observes the human team members while they are working on a problem, and supports them in various ways,” says Riedl, an associate professor who studies crowdsourcing, open innovation, and network science. “One of the ways in which we think we can support that team is by ensuring equal inclusion of all team members.”

The fact that this is even AN IDEA shows how far this has gone.

Enjoy. This is what happens we start controlling, intimidating and punishing freedom of expression. IN AMERICA.
.

Big Brother didn’t arrive in Nineteen Eighty Four but it seems like it’s getting closer now.

 

[Tumblin Tumbleweed]

It has been BAD ENOUGH that the Regressive Left has enabled the control of freedom of expression on AMERICAN college campuses (of all fucking places on the planet), and it has already spread into the workplace. But now we're looking at having an "artificial intelligence" device that LISTENS TO WORKPLACE CONVERSATIONS to be sure that we are being "inclusive" and "equal".

I am not making this up.

Could a smart device catch implicit bias in the workplace?

“The vision that we have [for this project] is that you would have a device, maybe something like Amazon Alexa, that sits on the table and observes the human team members while they are working on a problem, and supports them in various ways,” says Riedl, an associate professor who studies crowdsourcing, open innovation, and network science. “One of the ways in which we think we can support that team is by ensuring equal inclusion of all team members.”

The fact that this is even AN IDEA shows how far this has gone.

Enjoy. This is what happens we start controlling, intimidating and punishing freedom of expression. IN AMERICA.
.

Big Brother didn’t arrive in Nineteen Eighty Four but it seems like it’s getting closer now.

It is. That's what the OP is about.

 

[Mac1958]

As I say all the time, the two ends can be comically similar in their behaviors.

But I'm not even going as far as the companies themselves. I'm talking about this relentless drive to control, intimidate and punish communication on a macro scale. Political Correctness, Cancel Culture. This story is merely the latest drop in the hurricane.

I'm seeing this control being exerted more and more, and I'll fight it every step of the way. Freedom of expression is the most liberal of all values, it's our most important right, and this shit sure as hell isn't liberal.
.

Again, one has never had or rarely ever had freedom of expression in a place of work.

Again, freedom of expression, like most things, exists on a continuum.

Monitoring and enforcing words used in business meetings for "fairness" or "inclusion" is a clear step in the wrong direction, at least for those of us who are serious about maintaining as much freedom of expression as possible.
.

Your article is "clickbait". Nowhere is it happening.

But are you saying you miss discrimination in the work place?

It isn't happening yet because they're still working on the AI. My point is that it's part of a much larger picture.

I'm saying that you and I have very different standards for freedom of expression.
.

You are a lord, in a kingdom of lies...comrade

You're welcome to point any lies out, comrade.
.

 

[Olde Europe]

It is. That's what the OP is about.

<sigh>

The OP (article) is about a tool for team development.

The OP (poster) is all about his paranoia regarding a fictitious group derided as "regressive left".

Does anyone here actually believe a kind of a horribly expensive AI "Alexa" developing data on team inclusion / dysfunction is needed for employers to monitor employee conversations? Installing a hidden microphone / camera would do the trick, and at a fraction of the cost, no?

It's a tool, and one that doesn't even exist as of yet. Isn't it kind of hasty to get all paranoid, and paint Big Brother's face all across the skies?

 

[WEATHER53]

Yeah you excuse makers; we really need an audio device snooping on us

 

[JoeB131]

You start a thread that is half-heartedly critical of your leftist friends....then you proceed to respond to every comment by so-called rightwing Trumpsters with insults and condescension.

Give Mac his due... He responds to every comment with condescension... it's his thing.

What did you expect? The anti-American social justice warriors have moved out of the Universities and are now filling the corporation HR departments as gatekeepers to jobs and wealth.

I actually caught a Rubin report interview that discussed this very thing, but I don't remember which guest it was that was speaking about it.

Except that's really not what is being discussed here. Of course, we don't have freedom of speech in the workplace. You can't call you boss an idiot, you can't express an opinion that the company's product sucks, etc.

So what the OP was discussing was that new Analytics tools are looking at meetings and determining if all team members are being included in discussions, or if what is being discussed is on track to company goals. Probably more geared towards the PR end of a business than anything else.

Given how many tone deaf commercials we've seen, kind of sounds like a GOOD idea.

 

[JoeB131]

There's a new form of discrimination.

As long as you spout the Party Lines you get a job.

If you're a free-thinker.....NO JOB FOR YOU!!!

Okay, and how is that different than what we were doing before? Most companies I've been a part of, the CEO gets up there, spouts obvious nonsense and lies, and everyone else in the room just nods and agrees with him.

Organizations tend towards group think in general, this isn't unusual.

 

[JoeB131]

I certainly don't see anything stopping this authoritarian, illiberal direction, but I'll sure as hell keep screaming at it!

Oh, look, Mac is here to save us, from... um... stuff.

Again, freedom of expression, like most things, exists on a continuum.

Monitoring and enforcing words used in business meetings for "fairness" or "inclusion" is a clear step in the wrong direction, at least for those of us who are serious about maintaining as much freedom of expression as possible.

Mac is still upset HR talked to him about that joke no one thought was funny.

 

[JoeB131]

As I say all the time, the two ends can be comically similar in their behaviors.

But I'm not even going as far as the companies themselves. I'm talking about this relentless drive to control, intimidate and punish communication on a macro scale. Political Correctness, Cancel Culture. This story is merely the latest drop in the hurricane.

Oooooh. Cancel Culture. Really?

So who has been unfairly "cancelled". Name one person. Harvey Weinstein? Bill Cosby? Bill Cosby was still selling concerts up until the day they convicted him.

 

[JoeB131]

I'll try again: The mere fact that this is being considered is the issue, because it reflects a clear cultural and social trajectory towards more control over freedom of expression.

Individual stories are nearly irrelevant by themselves. Macro trends are the issue.

Yes, companies should totally ignore racism and misogyny until there's a lawsuit, and then they should rush out and do damage control.

Heaven forbid they actually use data and analytics to identify a problem before it becomes a problem.

Now, personally, i doublt this is a good idea, because if people know they are being recorded and their words analyzed, it means they will be less likely to share their candid thoughts. But people don't do that now in business, really.

I worked in a dying industry once. We all knew it was a dying industry, but no one dared say anything out loud. No one wanted to be seen as negative.

 

[MaryL]

Wait one red hot minute, pardner. They want to snoop on conversations using electronic devices...Are these the same people that are also AGAINST using facial recognition software? Because (ding!) You guessed, it's "unconstitutional"! Just one more example of the leftist inconstancy. George Carlin could make a routine about these meatheads foibles and foolishness.

 

[CWayne]

You start a thread that is half-heartedly critical of your leftist friends....then you proceed to respond to every comment by so-called rightwing Trumpsters with insults and condescension.

Give Mac his due... He responds to every comment with condescension... it's his thing.

What did you expect? The anti-American social justice warriors have moved out of the Universities and are now filling the corporation HR departments as gatekeepers to jobs and wealth.

I actually caught a Rubin report interview that discussed this very thing, but I don't remember which guest it was that was speaking about it.

Except that's really not what is being discussed here. Of course, we don't have freedom of speech in the workplace. You can't call you boss an idiot, you can't express an opinion that the company's product sucks, etc.

So what the OP was discussing was that new Analytics tools are looking at meetings and determining if all team members are being included in discussions, or if what is being discussed is on track to company goals. Probably more geared towards the PR end of a business than anything else.

Given how many tone deaf commercials we've seen, kind of sounds like a GOOD idea.

Of course, that isn't what is being discussed. But thanks for trying. I know how hard it is for you.

 

[Mac1958]

Wait one red hot minute, pardner. They want to snoop on conversations using electronic devices...Are these the same people that are also AGAINST using facial recognition software? Because (ding!) You guessed, it's "unconstitutional"! Just one more example of the leftist inconstancy. George Carlin could make a routine about these meatheads foibles and foolishness.

The illiberal, authoritarian Regressive Left will downplay, minimize, and/or dismiss criticism of any measure that allows for the control, intimidation or punishment of speech they don't like.

Whether it's on a college campus, a rally or a workplace, they want control. That's how authoritarians are.

They'll also try to downplay this story, pretending it's not just another drop in the hurricane, just another example of a much larger picture.

 

[MaryL]

Wait one red hot minute, pardner. They want to snoop on conversations using electronic devices...Are these the same people that are also AGAINST using facial recognition software? Because (ding!) You guessed, it's "unconstitutional"! Just one more example of the leftist inconstancy. George Carlin could make a routine about these meatheads foibles and foolishness.

The illiberal, authoritarian Regressive Left will downplay, minimize, and/or dismiss criticism of any measure that allows for the control, intimidation or punishment of speech they don't like.

Whether it's on a college campus, a rally or a workplace, they want control. That's how authoritarians are.

They'll also try to downplay this story, pretending it's not just another drop in the hurricane, just another example of a much larger picture.

This is basically psychological warfare and mind control tactics the Soviets used. Never believe ANYTHING Liberal say. Modern Democrats are a scary bunch. The Democratic party should be dismantled or renamed "the Peoples Temple", because they seem more cult now...

 

[daveman]

...says the guy who compares Political Chic to an Asian sex doll.

You think she isn't a program? Sad.

Not everyone shares your racism.