The Guardian has a disturbing report about Amazon patenting a technology that would allow ownership to track and direct their warehouse employees.
The proposed wristbands would use ultrasonic tracking to identify the precise location of a worker’s hands as they retrieve items. One of the patents outlines a haptic feedback system that would vibrate against the wearer’s skin to point their hand in the right direction.
As easy a service as Amazon is, their business practices are in line with the rest of the tech giants—borderline slave-like. Their reach and strength as a company can be seen in how they bully and abuse municipalities into paying for the pleasure of their existence. And while Amazon wants to promote this patent as a time-saving and support device for employees, the Guardian points out that there really isn’t much to support that opinion.
Amazon already has a reputation for turning low-paid staff into “human robots” – working alongside thousands of proper robots – carrying out repetitive packaging tasks as fast as possible in an attempt to hit goals set by handheld computers.
This month, the 24-year-old warehouse worker Aaron Callaway described having just 15 seconds to scan items and place them into the right cart during his night shifts at an Amazon warehouse in the UK. “My main interaction is with the robots,” he said.
It’s a brave new world.