Remote desktop surveillance. This method includes systems such as those used by online staffing platform Upwork to keep an eye on freelancers doing work from home (about a third of the US workforce). The system, installed voluntarily by the freelancers, takes pictures of their desktops at random times and tracks their minute-by-minute activity, including keystroke and mouse movement (are they checking personal email? posting on Facebook?). This is a way for clients to make sure workers are not “wasting time,” and freelancers face pressure to accept this level of surveillance because doing so guarantees that they will be paid immediately after the job is done, while refusing might mean having to wait a long time for a client to pay an invoice. In other words, submission to surveillance is directly tied to economic benefits.

Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, loc. 232