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Appreciation post: My old boss warned me about facial recognition in our apartment building
About two years ago, our building management in Chicago proposed installing a facial recognition system for entry. My former boss, who worked in data privacy, told me flat out, 'Do not vote for that. It's a biometric data collection scheme disguised as convenience.' I thought he was being overly cautious, but I listened. The system was installed anyway, and last month, a local news report found the building's security vendor had been selling anonymized entry pattern data to a marketing firm. The data wasn't 'anonymous' at all; they could track when specific residents came and went. His warning was spot on. It made me realize how easily we trade privacy for a minor perk. Has anyone else had their building push for this kind of tech, and how did you push back?
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fisher.adam6mo ago
My building tried a fingerprint scanner, which I vetoed with my permanently pizza-greasy hands.
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simon7176mo ago
What about people with skin conditions?
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black.pat5mo ago
It's part of a weird trend where tech ignores real human bodies. My friend with eczema can't use the hand sanitizer pumps everywhere now. We're designing for a perfect world that doesn't exist.
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