9 votes

How all-knowing smartphones could become the Pentagon’s employee access cards

14 comments

  1. [9]
    Algernon_Asimov
    Link
    Nope. That's when I tender my resignation. There is no way my employee is going to monitor my movements and behaviour outside of working hours. That's a total deal-breaker for me.

    Using constant monitoring of the user’s behavior—including how they walk, carry the device, type and navigate on it and even how they commute to work and spend their free time—and the system will automatically and continuously verify the user’s identity

    Nope. That's when I tender my resignation. There is no way my employee is going to monitor my movements and behaviour outside of working hours. That's a total deal-breaker for me.

    10 votes
    1. [7]
      EightRoundsRapid
      Link Parent
      Yep. My involvement with my job ends when my shift finishes, and start again until the beginning of the next one. I don't work outside my contracted hours, and sure as hell will never consent to...

      Yep. My involvement with my job ends when my shift finishes, and start again until the beginning of the next one.

      I don't work outside my contracted hours, and sure as hell will never consent to letting any employer know where I go, what I do or how long I do it for on my own time.

      8 votes
      1. [6]
        Ordinator
        Link Parent
        While that's certainly a fair personal decision to make, it's pretty fundamentally incompatible with working for the DoD in my experience. Certainly members of the armed forces do not have this...

        While that's certainly a fair personal decision to make, it's pretty fundamentally incompatible with working for the DoD in my experience. Certainly members of the armed forces do not have this luxury.

        6 votes
        1. [5]
          Algernon_Asimov
          Link Parent
          Employees of the Department of Defence do have the luxury of resigning, though. They might not get to decide the terms of their employment, but they can decide whether to be employed at the...

          Employees of the Department of Defence do have the luxury of resigning, though. They might not get to decide the terms of their employment, but they can decide whether to be employed at the Department in the first place. And, if enough people decide not to be employed there, maybe the Department would have to reconsider its approach towards employee identification.

          Even so, if I happened to already be employed by the Department of Defence (highly unlikely, considering my personal ethics), and this new technology was implemented, I would ask for a work-issued mobile phone, install the Department's identification app on that work phone, and then switch the phone off the moment I left the premises, and switch it on again when I approached the premises. If the Department would not issue me with a mobile phone, I would buy a cheap phone just for work. There's no way I would let them install a work-related app on my personal mobile phone (I have already refused this at previous employers).

          If the Department then chose to fire me for installing a work-related app on a work-related phone and using my work phone only during working hours... that would certainly make for an interesting court case!

          5 votes
          1. [4]
            patience_limited
            Link Parent
            I've worked as a U.S. DoD contractor, and seen the culture in action. It's difficult to explain how pervasively the lives of active-duty personnel are totalized. If you're in the U.S. military,...

            I've worked as a U.S. DoD contractor, and seen the culture in action. It's difficult to explain how pervasively the lives of active-duty personnel are totalized. If you're in the U.S. military, you exist under constant scrutiny, and that may be the model they're trying to extend to civilians.

            3 votes
            1. Algernon_Asimov
              Link Parent
              And this just confirms why I would never be a suitable employee of such an organisation. :)

              And this just confirms why I would never be a suitable employee of such an organisation. :)

              1 vote
            2. [2]
              Soptik
              Link Parent
              Would you mind expanding it? It's hard for me to imagine it.

              Would you mind expanding it? It's hard for me to imagine it.

              1. patience_limited
                (edited )
                Link Parent
                I was just a contractor, but imagine being embedded in an organisation that regulates your hairstyle and clothing; how you greet people; what exercise level you have to maintain; your job...
                • Exemplary

                I was just a contractor, but imagine being embedded in an organisation that regulates your hairstyle and clothing; how you greet people; what exercise level you have to maintain; your job description; what skills you're trained in; every object you're permitted to possess; your food, your medical care, what risks you're expected to take; whom you may or may not have sex with; what you can and can't say in person, on the phone, in e-mail (thoroughly visible to your superiors); what you may visit online and how. Imagine being on camera at all times, and required to carry ID that you must produce multiple times per day, even for things as trivial as a bathroom visit. Imagine that leaving the base requires a large stack of forms and multiple authorizations.

                The base I worked at wasn't doing anything super-secret, I don't recall that we had a significant war posture towards anyone at the time. As it happened, the biggest security issues during my tenure were due to the espionage activities of a nominal ally. But I was involved in the e-mail control and surveillance, and the sheer pettiness of what could get soldiers in trouble was astounding. [At the same time, I don't think the command staff was aware that I could also see their chat logs.]

                All this, before widespread smartphones. This place, 1996 - 1998.

                Edit: And this was the espionage case I wound up involved in, to secure e-mail and computer files - I was told the guy got caught driving off base with a box of secret documents in his trunk. So if the FBI was watching Jews there, I guess I've also got a surveillance file from that time.

                2 votes
    2. ianw
      Link Parent
      Yeah. I don't want work knowing literally anything about my life outside of 8-4 that they don't need to. I'd rather use a much less convenient card/entry device if it meant I was able to keep some...

      Yeah. I don't want work knowing literally anything about my life outside of 8-4 that they don't need to. I'd rather use a much less convenient card/entry device if it meant I was able to keep some work/life separation.

      3 votes
  2. [2]
    Ordinator
    Link
    The most frightening thing about this is that despite being a horrifically bad idea that will inevitably be poorly implemented, it's nonetheless extremely easy technologically. Hopefully the...

    The most frightening thing about this is that despite being a horrifically bad idea that will inevitably be poorly implemented, it's nonetheless extremely easy technologically.

    Hopefully the employees of the DoD push back hard on this.

    3 votes
    1. patience_limited
      Link Parent
      It's such a horrifically bad idea that it reeks of kickbacks and vaporware. I question the technical feasibility (at this time) and "plucky little AI security startup revolutionizing...

      It's such a horrifically bad idea that it reeks of kickbacks and vaporware. I question the technical feasibility (at this time) and "plucky little AI security startup revolutionizing authentication" nonsense. Does not pass the sniff test.

      1 vote
  3. [3]
    patience_limited
    Link
    "Nothing can go wrong with this plan." Biometric data is the last thing you would ever want a third party to store. You can't change your retinas, fingerprints, or other details if there's a...

    "Nothing can go wrong with this plan."

    Biometric data is the last thing you would ever want a third party to store. You can't change your retinas, fingerprints, or other details if there's a significant breach. And yes, most biometric authentication uses a sample of data points with your fingerprint or retina as a seed, and you can resample if the original sample is compromised. But if you by chance have an accurate replica of the subject finger or eyeball, you'll still get in.

    I can see why whole life patterns would be
    advantageous for an authentication - what better way to prove that you're you, than by corresponding to an extended recording or algorithmic extrapolation of you?

    But submitting to this kind of surveillance is nuts, both personally and on the DoD's part. Why would you want a contractor to maintain a complete log of a user's path and activities inside your sensitive facilities, potentially including text, audio, and video?

    I don't have to think hard to imagine Kafka-esque outcomes, from a bad day where the algorithm won't let you act like yourself. Did somebody decide Glasshouse was a source of inspiration?

    1 vote
    1. [2]
      whisper
      Link Parent
      Or what happens if a person decides to radically change their habits? If they want to become a gym rat in their free time instead of a foodie?

      Or what happens if a person decides to radically change their habits? If they want to become a gym rat in their free time instead of a foodie?

      1. Algernon_Asimov
        Link Parent
        Then you would have to inform your employer of that change, and get a manual override to allow you entry to your workplace while the algorithm learns your new habits.

        Then you would have to inform your employer of that change, and get a manual override to allow you entry to your workplace while the algorithm learns your new habits.

        2 votes