Are ‘bossware’ tools tracking you?

In recent years, the technologies used to surveil workers have become more sophisticated and widespread. — Melanie Lambrick/The New York Times

While many workers worry that artificial intelligence will one day take their jobs, another use of AI and technology may already be quietly reshaping and degrading workplace conditions: “bossware”.

Bossware refers to the technology some managers use to supervise and surveil employees in the workplace. The term was popularised by a 2020 report from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital privacy nonprofit, and has since come up in nonprofit reports and news coverage.