From Bathroom Restrictions to “Algorithmic Cruelty”: Employer Surveillance in the Digital Age and its Manifestations in the Indian State

Abstract

This article explores the issue of employer surveillance in the global context, and how extant employer-worker power imbalances are heightened in the digital age. While conversations on the “fourth industrial revolution” archetypally focus on Global North contexts, this article explores implications in the Indian state, which has a labour force primarily comprised of informal workers. The piece examines how employers are attempting to frame surveillance in less threatening ways but simultaneously engage in intrusive data capture from workers. It  then delves into the different ways employer surveillance manifests across different sectors in the Indian context. The piece finally explores ways in which the issue of employer surveillance of workers in an era of “surveillance capitalism” can be countered in practical ways that centre worker interests, rights, and welfare.