Yesterday, an NBC report claimed that workers in Apple’s call centers have complained about plans to install cameras to monitor. Call center companies are planning to monitor employees who are working from home using camera and sophesticated software.

Apple outsources its call centers to multiple vendors. Columbia-based Teleperformance is one of the significant call centers used by Apple. Workers at Teleperformance have complained about new contracts detailing surveillance. As per the new contract, Teleperformance will use an AI camera, voice analytics, and data storage for workers and their family members. One of the workers who spoke with NBC said,

The contract allows constant monitoring of what we are doing, but also our family. I think it’s really bad. We don’t work in an office. I work in my bedroom. I don’t want to have a camera in my bedroom.

It seems like the call center suffers from trust issues and is planning to use over-the-board surveillance. As per the contract, the workers agree to have the video camera installed on their home computers. Furthermore, it has to be angled towards the workspace, and the camera keeps on recording in real time. The contract also includes consent for real-time monitoring using tools to identify restricted items like phones around the workspace.

The software reportedly scans for breaches and sends the reports to managers. That’s not all; employees have to click “break mode” whenever they leave their desks. Eventually, the workers have to give reasons to the manager. The workers are marked as “idle” if they stop using the mouse and keyboard for some time.

Who is to be blamed?

The contract asks for permission to spy on workers and their households. It is not as if they have a choice. Those who refuse to sign the new contract will be removed from the Apple account. We have seen multiple instances of inhumane practices by Apple vendors. A recent report highlighted hostile environment and impractical expectations at the Mac repair center. The management at Teleperformance said that the client (Apple) asked for additional monitoring to prevent data breaches while working from home.

Apple responded and refuted claims. It said that the company “prohibits the use of video or photographic monitoring by our suppliers and have confirmed Teleperformance does not use video monitoring for any of their teams working with Apple.” Nick Leahy, Apple spokesperson says it has recently audited Teleperformance in Columbia and did not come across any violations.