Announcing Next Research Project: Biometrics at Work

At a research university, faculty spend summer (with much more free time) delving more deeply into their work. My next project, launching soon, is biometrics at work.

The first leg in this long term project is to understand the emerging technologies for human biometrics. 

Fitbit is an obvious example, but it scratches the surface. 

In professional sports—and now NCAA programs— some teams measure biometrics during practice and a few on a 24/7 basis (including sleep). 

Canadian national hockey programs—the youth feeder program to the NHL— massively monitor data from young athletes, “mine” it, and also sell it to sponsors (no telling how that is used for profit, but it probably is).

A few employers “chip” their workers. A Wisconsin company “chips” employees voluntarily to track their time at work. Where there’s a chip, there’s a way to measure more than just movement—and this company, called Three Square Market, has opened a Pandora’s box. This is not convenience. It’s Big Brother at work.

More practically speaking, some employers have wellness programs. They offer lower health insurance if employees hit certain biometric targets—e.g., steps, minutes, hours being active. 

It’s a promising idea but also ripe for abuse. Is biometric data “personal health information” under HIPAA, the primary medical privacy law? I don’t know … but I’ll find out.

If you have thoughts or ideas or experiences or stories to share, I am at the beginning point on this journey—share with me at mhl@illinois.edu. I have a lot to learn (this is like Columbus's voyage with no sure destination!)

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To Complete: I’ve been working on executive orders that regulate private sector employment, focusing especially on race and immigration issues. It is a massively overlooked topic. 

To show you how important it is: President Truman issued an executive order in 1950 that required the U.S. government not to discriminate on the basis of “race, color, religion or national origin” when it hires (sex was not included). Fourteen years later, that incredibly important concept was the backbone for our nation’s main anti-discrimination law (private sector and public employers), called Title VII. It's as though Truman's order served as a laboratory for the nation in dismantling racial segregation at work.

President Hoover—to cite a sad example— used an executive proclamation to set extremely low quotas for all immigration, except people from the U.K. The impact on labor markets was significant. He tweaked the quotas  to admit “Nordics.” Why that? Because the Iowa native—coming from an area where Scandinavians had migrated— realized that his "base" threatened to vote for Democrats if their fellow Norwegians and Swedes could not get past Ellis Island. Sounds Trumpian in its crass political calculations.

I’m a long way from looking at President Trump’s executive orders, but in time I’ll be able to compare his footprint with presidents dating back to (are you ready?) … Martin Van Buren! He issued the first executive order that affected the private sector—an order that put a ceiling on public works contracts (e.g., shipbuilding) to ten hours a day.