UPDATE, 15 June:

Transportation corporation Uber announced that it will monitor its drivers in China, using GPS, and will fire anyone who attends political protests.

Technology writer Casey Newton drew attention to the chilling implications of Uber’s behavior.

Uber drivers aren’t employees, but Uber will *track them with GPS to prevent them from attending political protests* http://t.co/aMXlrMoB2b — Casey Newton (@CaseyNewton) June 14, 2015

“Uber drivers aren’t employees,” he explains, “but Uber will track them with GPS to prevent them from attending political protests.”

Uber drivers are considered independent private contractors. They have no job stability whatsoever, have no democratic representation in unions or any other collective workers’ rights body, and can be fired (that is to say, their contract can be dropped) on a whim for going against the wishes of their employer.

In what other profession are “independent contractors” monitored with GPS to enforce their behavior off the clock? — Casey Newton (@CaseyNewton) June 14, 2015

“In what other profession are ‘independent contractors’ monitored with GPS to enforce their behavior off the clock?” Newton asked.

British newspaper The Times indicates that “Uber has more tracking power than the police.” Moreover, the corporation can “use technology to locate people in real time, which the police are forbidden from doing.”

ORIGINAL, 13 May:

You know those dystopian science fiction novels about that day in the presumably not-so-distant future in which totalitarian corporations monitor every single move their employees make?

Well that day has arrived.

The money transfer corporation Intermex surveils its workers 24/7, with the assistance of the phone app Xora. Employees are told they must keep their phone on at all times, with the app enabled.

Myrna Arias, a former sales executive for the company, frustrated at the flagrant violation of her privacy, disabled the app. She was fired.

Arias decided to sue Intermex for its illegal activity. In her Kern County Superior Court suit, her attorney writes

After researching the app and speaking with a trainer from Xora, Plaintiff and her co-workers asked whether Intermex would be monitoring their movements while off duty. Stubits admitted that employees would be monitored while off duty and bragged that he knew how fast she was driving at specific moments ever since she installed the app on her phone. Plaintiff expressed that she had no problem with the app’s GPS function during work hours, but she objected to the monitoring of her location during non-work hours and complained to Stubits that this was an invasion of her privacy. She likened the app to a prisoner’s ankle bracelet and informed Stubits that his actions were illegal. Stubits replied that she should tolerate the illegal intrusion because Intermix was paying [her more than her previous employer].

The filing insisted that this “intrusion would be highly offensive to a reasonable person.”

Ars Technica reports the “suit, which claims invasion of privacy, retaliation, unfair business practices, and other allegations, seeks damages in excess of $500,000 and asserts she was monitored on the weekends when she was not working.”

Arias’ attorney spoke with Ars Technica, detailing how the phone app allowed the workers’ “bosses to see every move the employees made throughout the day”: