Property tech companies are helping landlords spy on residents, collect their data, and even evict them. Critics are calling it an invasion of privacy that could reinforce inequality.
Imagine returning home after work and being required to get your face scanned in order to enter your apartment building. For some renters, the prospect might seem harmless, even convenient — like Apple using Face ID to grant access to your phone.
But if you're a person of color, woman, undocumented immigrant, or simply someone struggling to make ends meet during the pandemic, that scenario suddenly becomes much more worrisome.
Will the scan actually recognize you, given the well-documented racial and gender biases that tend to be baked into facial recognition technology? Will your data be shared with law enforcement agencies, which are now buying it from private companies in lieu of obtaining warrants? Will it even be used to predict whether you'll make rent?
While these scenarios may sound slightly dystopian, more landlords are turning to facial recognition and other forms of property tech, or "proptech," not just to surveil residents, but to keep out "undesirable" ones in the first place, according to researchers who study the intersection of technology and housing.
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