Program a series of repetitive clicks and button strikes
Record and save mouse movements for playback
And lots more hiding in the shadows.
Before the pandemic, mouse jigglers were niche devices used by the police and security agencies to keep seized computers from logging out and requiring a password to access.
Plugged into a laptop USB port, the jiggler randomly moves the cursor, faking activity when there is no-one there.
According to ABC Science, sales boomed when the pandemic hit.
James Franklin, a Melbourne based software engineer, has mailed 5,000 jigglers to customers all over Australia over the past 2 years.
Often, he has had to upgrade the device to evade an employer’s latest methods to detect and block them. He said, “Unbelievable demand is the best way to describe it.
When Zoom became a thing (along with) activity status and employee tracking, it became almost an expectation for people to have them.”
THE SCARIEST PART
Yes, this is where we close our eyes and scream. In the ABC Science article, Mr Galeb of Efficient Lab is quoted as saying:
“The most popular features for employers - track employee “active time” to generate a productivity score.
Depending on the data, or the insights you receive, you get to build this picture of who is doing more and doing less.”
Since when has keystrokes or hours spent at a desk equalled productivity? Never.
The ABC article goes on to detail a 2020 submission to a New South Wales (NSW) senate committee investigating the impact of technological change on the future of work.
Submission 0006 from the United Workers Union contains a case study of a call centre worker.
“Jonathon was informed by his manager that two weeks prior when WFH, he had a period of 45 minutes unaccounted for on a particular shift.
Unable to remember exactly what he was doing that particular day; the matter was escalated to senior management who demanded to know exactly where he physically was during this time.