Surveillance-based time tracking is unworkable (and a legal landmine)

Pain point

Copywriters/creatives are screenshotted every 5 minutes while much of the real work (thinking, reading, calls, notes) happens off-screen. Separately, clients worry monitoring contractors blows up their 1099/IR35 classification.

Signal

45 upvotes, dense comment thread with two independent legal angles (US IRS, UK employment status). 🚩 **High-value signal**: a *buyer* self-identifies — effitalll: "Upwork does screen monitoring. I hire people from Upwork for hourly projects and now am very interested if this is an issue." That's an unmet need expressed by someone who pays for labour. [source](https://www.reddit.com/r/freelance/comments/1wyeo9h/clockify_screenshots_every_5_minutes_at_work/)

Opportunity

Trust-based proof-of-work tracker: instead of screenshots, it generates a client-facing activity digest (commits, docs touched, calls, deliverable milestones, freelancer-written daily log) — "evidence without surveillance." Secondary wedge, cheap to build: a free "Is your contractor monitoring setup misclassifying them?" assessment/lead magnet for *clients*, upsold into a compliant contract pack. Tracker is a medium/hard build; the compliance tool is a weekend build with a clear buyer.

Evidence

• Clockify screenshots every 5 minutes at work