Residents At Brooklyn High Rise Fighting Plan To Make Tenants Use Facial Recognition Security System
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Tenants of one Brooklyn building are fighting back against a high-tech security plan they say puts their privacy at risk.
Atlantic Plaza Towers in Brownsville is a busy place for comings and goings. Now, the apartment building's management wants to know every single resident not only by name – but by face – and biometric data.
"I feel it's really invasive," tenant Tenisha Peterkin said.
Peterkin is among the many tenants outspoken against new facial recognition technology that the landlord – Nelson Management Group – wants to add at the front door.
The controversy is all the talk at the rent-stabilized high rise.
"It's just unfortunate. I've lived here 39 years and feel like I'm being policed in my own home," Peterkin added.
"It invades our privacy and we have a right to say no," Icemae Downes said.
"It's like big brother right in your face," another tenant added.
A group of tenants has filed legal opposition with the state agency that oversees rent-stabilized housing, over the landlord's plan to scan the faces of residents as they walk into the building.
Nelson Management Group said the goal is to create a "safer environment for tenants." and they insisted "data is fully encrypted" and "never sold to third parties."
Tenants against the plan say when you consider the key fab system, plus having to get through three separate locked doors, surveillance cameras, and a security desk, this added layer of security just isn't necessary.
One mom of an eight-year-old boy argued you can't be too careful.
"I like it, it's great," Miriam Moussiliou said. "With the kids, we have to know who comes in, who comes out."
Tenants worried about privacy just hope their argument will be heard by the people who have power to put a stop to the high tech system before it's installed.