Amazon revealed plans to equip its delivery vans with high-tech surveillance cameras, now workers are arguing that the cameras are not only an invasion of privacy but a safety hazard also.
Breitbart News has reported extensively on Amazon’s monitoring of its employees. In February, Breitbart News reported that Amazon announced plans to install AI-enabled cameras in vans used by some of its contracted delivery partners, but the firm has been using software to track delivery drivers for years.
Amazon requires all contracted delivery drivers to download and run a smartphone app called “Mentor” that monitors their driving behavior while they’re working. The app generates a score each day that measures employees’ driving performance.
In 2018 Amazon launched the delivery service partner (DSP) program. The program is made up of contracted delivery firms that handle a growing number of Amazon’s last-mile deliveries. Since its launch, the program has grown to include more than 1,300 delivery firms across five countries, posing a major threat to an industry that was previously dominated by shipping giants such as UPS and FedEx.
The Mentor app is framed as a “digital driver safety app,” to help employees avoid accidents and other potentially dangerous driving habits while delivering Amazon items. However, multiple delivery drivers speaking to CNBC described the app as invasive and raised concerns about bugs within the app that at times lead to unfair disciplinary actions from their manager.
Now as the AI-powered cameras are beginning to be fitted in delivery vehicles, many employees are beginning to complain. Jacobin reports that the cameras operate on a platform called Driveri developed by a California-based company called Netradyne. The cameras reportedly provide instant direction to drivers, such as telling them “please slow down,” while also storing data on employee performance and delivery metrics.
An Amazon Prime logo appears on the side of a delivery van as it departs an Amazon Warehouse location, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020, in Dedham, Mass. Halloween is still weeks away, but retailers are hoping you’ll start your holiday shopping now. The big push is coming from Amazon, which is holding its annual Prime Day sales event Tuesday, Oct. 13 and Wednesday, Oct. 14. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Karolina Haraldsdottir, a senior manager of the last-mile delivery operation at Amazon, commented on the cameras in a video stating: “Our intention in introducing this technology is to set up drivers for success.” But many employees are unhappy with the system.
One delivery driver based out of Washington state told Jacobin: “My direct supervisor mentioned that ‘a bunch of people’ said they were going to quit when the cameras were installed.” He added: “I think the cameras are needlessly invasive and completely unnecessary, especially given the other layers of surveillance and scrutiny placed upon us by Amazon. Most, if not all, of my coworkers feel the same way.”
The Washington driver added: “We’re all just out here trying to do our best, but we also have to contend with knowing that each week, computers spit out metrics for us which require multiple pages to properly display, and a drop in those abstract numbers could lose us jobs. All I want to do is deliver my damn packages and go home, man.”
Read more at Jacobin here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com