Tenants in New York apartment block force landlord to provide them a physical key

Tenants in a New York City apartment block have been successful in forcing their landlord to provide them a physical key after the landlord had installed a smart lock on the lobby door.

A physical key said to be a "required service"

CNET reported the settlement: "In a settlement released Tuesday, a judge ordered landlords of an apartment building in New York to provide physical keys to any tenants who don't want to use the Latch smart locks installed on the building last September."

As a result of the settlement, the landlord is obligated to provide each tenant who wishes one with a physical key rather than being forced to use the smart lock.

Smart lock installed last September

After the Latch-brand smart lock was installed last September, five tenants sued their landlord claiming that the use of the smart lock and the accompanying app raised serious privacy concerns. Their lawyer argued that the lock could be used to "surveil, track, and intimidate residents". Latch company denies those claims.

The tenants also argued that 93-year-old Tony Mysak was unable to use the smart lock. The lock controlled access to the building's elevator and Mysak had to struggle to use the stairs. The lawyer argued he was a virtual shut-in since the new system began.

Response of the landlord's lawyer

The attorney for the landlord noted that the lock could be operated using a numeric code so one did not need the app. The Latch company said the residents were given key cards. The company denied that the smart lock captured, stored, or used the GPS location of users of the lock. It also noted that it had updated its privacy policy to make this clear.

In a statement to Verge Latch commented about the settlement: “Latch was not a party to this litigation. We are pleased the parties — a group of five tenants and the building owner — have reportedly reached a private settlement to resolve their disagreement about entry methods to their building’s common spaces. At Latch, we know people have personal preferences about how they access their homes.” The company also pointed out that all its devices are compatible with physical keys.

Problems with smart home devices

While this case resulted in an amicable settlement between the parties, it will not set a legal precedent and it illustrates problems that can arise due to the lack of clear laws as to how the new technology is to be used. Last June the New York Times reported that smart home devices were being used increasingly by domestic abusers who were able to remotely control devices to harass and control others in a home.

There are now Latch smart locks installed in about 1,000 residential buildings just in New York. There are likely to be more cases in which tenants object to their use and end up taking the issue to court.

Previously  published in the Digital Journal

New York named Best Smart City of 2016

At the Smart City Expo World Congress in 2016 held in Barcelona Spain, New York was announced as the Best Smart City of 2016.

The city was recognized for its initiative, Building a Smart + Equitable City. The project was led by the Mayor's Office of Technology and Innovation. There were four pillars to the city plan to make New York a global leader in smart technologies: 1) LinkNYC that expanded connectivity among citizens; 2) Marketplace.nyc. and Urban Tech NYC, that were for growing the innovation economy ecosystem;3) a program for piloting and scaling smart technologies; 4) A set of comprehensive guidelines that would ensure equitable deployment of the smart city technologies.

Jeff Merritt, Director of Innovation at the Mayor's Office of Tech + Innovation said:“When used effectively, IoT devices—like sensors that capture pollution in the air or lights that only turn on when someone is in the room—can produce cost savings, bolster civic engagement, and strengthen public health and safety. As cities move forward into the future, municipal leaders must also be cognisant of, and actively mitigate, the challenges and risks raised by these technologies, most notably in areas of public privacy and security.”"IoT" stands for the Internet of Things.The IoT are inter-networked physical devices such as vehicles, buildings, and numerous items embedded with electronic technology such as software, sensors, actuators, and network connectivity that enable all these objects to communicate with each other and collect and exchange data. The devices are often designated smart, as in smart locks, smart refrigerators, smart vehicles, thermostats and so on.

READ MORE: The City of London launches its 'smart street' initiative.

A good example of innovation using smart technology is the program of LinkNYC which has transformed the old city pay phone system into a huge network of over 10,000 communication structures. They provide Wi-FI hotspots, phone calls, ability to charge your cell phones and other devices and access to city services, as shown on the appended video. New York is also spending $3 million to invest in sensors that will improve public safety. They are also investing $20 million in a program to connect vehicles. New York even has a special program providing 9,300 square meters of affordable space and equipment to help entrepreneurs build smart and sustainable solutions to problems.

Merritt had an upbeat appraisal of New York's policies:“New York City’s strategy for a smart and equitable city is rooted in a series of practical steps and tools that city agencies can use to leverage new technologies.This includes a focus on expanding Internet connectivity across the five boroughs to unleash new opportunities, growing the local innovation economy and accelerating public-private partnerships, working with communities to develop solutions that meet neighbourhood needs, and always putting New Yorkers first as we test and deploy new technologies.”

A smart city is a vision of urban development that integrates information and communications technology (ICT) with IoT technology in order to manage the city's assets which would include local departments information systems, schools, libraries, transportation systems, hospitals, power plants, water supply systems, waste management, law enforcement and other community services. ICT is an extended term for information technology (IT) which stresses the role of unified communications. Information technology(IT) is the application of computers, to store, study, retrieve, transmit and manipulate data or information. However, the term could also refer to other technologies such as television, and telephones, and radio. The appended video shows how different cities have employed new technology to make their cities smart.

As can be seen in the video description of the use of smart technology in Singapore, the smart city can raise questions about the privacy of citizens, as the smart city may constantly be monitoring the behavior of its citizens supposedly in order to enhance their lives. There are also concerns about the use of innovative technology in smart policing. Many citizens may be unhappy about the degree of order and efficiency involved in the city and prefer a more haphazard and perhaps less efficient city but in which they had more control. There is also the problem of large corporations gaining control over the new technology and finding the smart city a way of introducing proprietary technology that gives them the opportunity for monopoly profits. A great deal of the material on the smart city reads like promotional material for a business.

U.S.: Inequality in New York extremely high

An article by Doug Henwood here details just how unequal income is in the city whose mayor Michael Bloomberg a billionaire no doubt represents the top 5 per cent in the city! The analysis that Henwood uses is from the New York City Independent budget office.

The material was released after a request from James Oddo a New York City councilor. Here are a few details.

The poorest tenth in the city have an average income of only 988 dollars representing just .1 per cent of the total income of the city. This does not include the amount of any social benefits. Still it is astonishingly low. Even the bottom 50 per cent of income earners have only 9 per cent of the total income. This compares to 19 per cent for the bottom half of earners throughout the U.S.

The richest 5 per cent receive 49 per cent almost half of all the income in the city. This compares with the national average at 32 per cent. The iconic 1 per cent of top earners in New York City have over a third of the total income at 34 per cent. This is much higher than the overall U.S. in which the top one per cent have 19 per cent of income. As Henwood remarks the inequality in New York City is greater than that of Brazil noted for the huge gap between rich and poor. Apparently electing a billionaire as mayor does not mean that much wealth trickles down, rather it means a lot trickles up.