Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology / Wikimedia Commons (GODL-India). Cropped.
A camera strapped to a home cleaner's head is now a question for the IT ministry. On Thursday, Secretary S. Krishnan chaired a meeting with home services platforms and technology companies on the recording of first person video by gig workers inside homes, footage used to train robots, The Economic Times reported.
Officials asked companies how they collect, process and store such video, how workers give consent, and how they protect family members or others who are caught on camera, according to the report. Some executives at the meeting questioned whether data recorded in Indian homes should be sold to overseas developers. No rules have been announced.
The practice is real. Bengaluru based Pronto runs an opt in service in which professionals wear visible GoPro cameras. The company says on X that the cameras capture only hand movements, record no audio by default and blur faces, and that footage is deleted within 48 hours.
The service terms, as reported, explain why officials are asking. The raw video may go after two days, but the terms allow Pronto to keep anonymised or aggregated data indefinitely and to use it to train other companies' models.
Rivals have stepped back. Urban Company chief executive Abhiraj Bhal said the company does not record inside customers' homes and has no plans to. Snabbit said it dropped a proposal after a limited trial at a training centre.
For the worker, the camera comes with the job. That is why the ministry's question on consent may matter most: whether a worker can say no and still get the booking.
Hashtags: #Technology #AI #GigWorkers #Privacy #MeitY #PhysicalAI #Pronto #DataPrivacy #PhysicalAIHomeVideo #ScienceTechnology
