2024/08/28 - U.S. GAO Releases Report on Employer Digital Surveillance, Referencing my Comments about Apple

In 2023, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) issued a formal Request for Information (RFI) titled “Automated Worker Surveillance and Management” (Federal Register Document ID: OSTP_FRDOC_0001-0008) to solicit public input on the use and impact of digital surveillance technologies in the workplace. The RFI sought perspectives from workers, labor organizations, advocacy groups, and others on the prevalence, design, deployment, and consequences of such surveillance — especially its potential effects on worker rights, mental and physical health, privacy, and workplace equity.

I submitted a public comment to OSTP on June 29, 2023, describing my direct experiences as a worker involved in labor agency proceedings, and raising concerns about corporate surveillance practices, including employee biometric data collection, mobile device monitoring, and privacy violations. My comment outlined policy, legal, and ethical concerns regarding these surveillance systems.

On August 28 2024, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a report to Congress titled “Digital Surveillance of Workers: Tools, Uses, and Stakeholder Perspectives” (GAO-24-107639). The report explicitly incorporated and analyzed the full set of public comments submitted to OSTP’s RFI — including mine — and cited input from 217 comments across 211 stakeholders.

The GAO report specifically included a case that closely aligns with my submission, stating:
“One worker reported being fired from a large technology company after raising concerns about the company’s privacy policy, which empowered managers to access, search, monitor, archive, and delete data stored on any worker’s devices.”

​This passage, along with broader GAO findings, closely reflect themes raised in my comment, including:

• Biometric surveillance (e.g., facial recognition, sleep, and menstruation tracking),
• Invasions of personal and bodily privacy (including surveillance inside homes and bathrooms),
• Retaliation against workers for raising privacy concerns.

My submission contributed to broader GAO assessments of:

• Digital and bodily privacy violations,
• Algorithmic discrimination and bias,
• Workplace surveillance impacts on health and morale,
• Impediments to labor organizing and collective action.

These issues were further highlighted in media coverage of the GAO report, including articles in Biometric Update and Labor & Employment Law Daily, which emphasized worker-submitted concerns as instrumental to shaping the federal response.
​

• OSTP RFI: Federal Register Notice (88 FR 27932)
• Comment Submission: Filed June 29, 2023 
• GAO Report: GAO-24-107639 (August 2024)
• GAO Blog Summary: "Why do I feel like somebody’s watching me?"
• Media Coverage:
  • Biometric Update, "US workers concerned about employers’ digital snooping."
  • Labor & Employment Law Daily (via VitalLaw platform)

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