Dr. Michelle O'Sullivan:

The webcams were specific to this study. People did not mention them in the interviews and so on that we did. However, the technology is available and can be used in other sectors.

As to other types of surveillance, there is something called keystroke logging. It is difficult to know how extensive that is and we did not see much evidence of it in the financial services sector. Some banks have systems that record every technological interaction, for example, phone systems, logging in times, how long people are spending on calls or emails, etc. Internationally, other technologies being used include badges that can detect emotions and how employees talk to people. One of the most talked about examples is the Humanyze badge. If every employee wears the badge, it records every interaction they have with other employees. There are some organisations in Japan where you cannot enter a building unless you are smiling because they want to promote enthusiasm among employees.

There is a good American website, coworker.org, which has a database of all the technology apps that are available and the types of data they collect. This is now known as little tech. Big tech is the Googles and so on of this world, but "little tech" is the term being used to describe companies – many of them are start-ups – that are developing these apps and software to record everything from your conversations and emotions to your technological interactions.