Desire to Brooklyn landlord to install facial recognition technology at the entrance to the complex of apartments with regulated rents has caused a wave of indignation among the tenants.
Residents of Atlantic Plaza Towers in Brownsville perceived this innovation as a violation of the right to privacy and civil liberties, and in January filed HCR objection to the introduction of this technology.
It turned out that the landlord Nelson Management Group in July 2018, without notifying the tenants, asked the state permission to install a system of facial recognition, known as StoneLock. Because according to the rules, the owners of apartments with regulated rents, constructed prior to 1974 must obtain a permit HCR to any changes in service.
This system collects biometric data on the basis of facial features, making tenants unable to enter the house, where there StoneLock, without a key.
«We don’t want to be tracked. We are not animals, said Ismi downs have long been living in this complex, journalists Gothamist. — It’s like that to mark us with the help of face recognition, just because they can’t implant us with a chip».
The area where is located the Atlantic Plaza Towers is located within Eastern new York, which was rebuilt in 2016, and since then it has started a boom in housing construction.
Mona Patel, one of the lawyers at Brooklyn Legal Services representing the tenants, said that the fact of implementing such technology in a developing part of Brooklyn only reinforces suspicions that it is installed to increase the pressure on tenants with regulated rents.
According to the website of the company, acquired Nelson Management Atlantic Plaza Towers in 2007 and continued to produce upgrades for $10.5 million
Seth hoy, the representative of legal service of new York, said that since then there have been several cases of eviction, which was later reviewed by lawyers Brooklyn legal services. Information about StoneLock was referred by one of their clients who are facing eviction.
Observation was an ongoing problem for tenants in the past. Shortly after his acquisition of Nelson Management installed security cameras in two buildings. According to several tenants, the landlord used them to monitor which the parcels were received by the tenants.
Patel noted that the tenants received emails with reference to a specific description of the bags or boxes along with a warning that heaters are not permitted in the building.
«This tactic is very reminiscent of the persecution,» she said, adding that the landlord has no right to ban the heaters.
Last month the management company held a meeting of the tenants to mitigate their concerns about StoneLock. But residents said that he has seen the presentation has only heightened their excitement. According to them, the technology that are going to install has not passed sufficient research and may not be safe.
«It seems that you had a dream, and you have to take him at any cost,» said the tenant Fabian Rogers. «We never asked about anything like that.»
It is not known how many apartments in new York using software to scan faces. But the city’s Department for the preservation and development of housing in June last year reported on 107 affordable apartments in a new residential complex in the South Bronx. Among these features was specified «modern access to the building through a system of face recognition».
Real estate new York homeowners are increasingly moving to system, Keyless entry, citing convenience and the desire to improve safety. Over many years in response to the appeal by the tenants, HCR awarded in favor of the system input keys and cards, as they do not violate the laws of rent stabilization and rent control.
The latest technology a cause of great concern due to questions regarding data collection.
Recently it became known about the conflict between landlord and tenants in Hell’s Kitchen, when the landlord was filed in the court in housing cases for installation in a shared vestibule area of the lock Latch, which can only be opened with the application. The situation was complicated by the fact that not all residents have a smartphone, which greatly limits their movement.
This case induced the member of Assembly Linda Rosenthal to create a law forbidding homeowners to install a system of intellectual access as the only way of entrance to the building, as well as significantly limiting the amount of personal data that may be collected by such companies as Latch.
