Students’ fury at uni desk devices
UNIVERSITY bosses have removed monitoring devices from desks after outrage from students.
Students claim they had no idea desks would be fitted with surveillance equipment, although the university is clear that students were informed.
As part of a Glasgow University campus revamp, the monitors are designed to anonymously record how often desks are being used.
The university has said they will remove the devices from desks around the West End campus.
PhD student Karen Cuthbert took to Twitter to complain, using a photograph of the device she found under her desk.
Ms Cuthbert wrote: “[These devices were placed in] in designated offices, with locks on the doors.
“I actually felt a bit sick when I looked under my desk and found it. No opportunity for informed consent. Looked under desk to find ominous black box.
“They also could just have asked us how we use space.
“I teach research ethics to undergrads at this uni.
“I’ll be using this as a case study of when ethical principles are egregiously violated.”
The device is called an OccupEye and has the words “Automated Workspace Utilisation Analysis” written across them.
They reportedly track whether someone is at their desk using heat and motion sensors.
A Glasgow University spokesman said: “A small number of monitors were fitted to desks in two parts of the university to help us understand when people used different spaces.
“This will assist us in planning f or f uture campus development.
“The monitors recorded only that a space was occupied and did not gather any additional or personal information.
“Although colleagues were advised in advance that the study was going to take place and that it was wholly anonymous, some students expressed concerns and the monitors have now been or are in the process of being removed.”