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Submitted via IRC for Runaway1956
Tenants at a property in New York City just struck a deal in what is both a wildly reasonable ask but also a crucial precedent at a time of increasing surveillance—their landlord has to give them physical keys to their building.
Five tenants in Hell’s Kitchen sued their landlord in March after the owners installed a Latch smart lock on the building last year. It is unlocked with a smartphone, and reportedly granted tenants access to the lobby, elevator, and mail room. But the group that sued their landlords saw this keyless entry as harassment, an invasion of privacy, and simply inconvenient.
“We are relieved that something as simple as entering our home is not controlled by an internet surveillance system and that because we will now have a mechanical key they will not be tracking our friends and our family,” 67-year-old tenant Charlotte Pfahl, who has lived in the building for 45 years, told the New York Post.
Source: After Smart Lock Allegedly Traps Senior in Apartment, Tenants Sue for Physical Keys and Win
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Thursday May 09 2019, @03:12PM (2 children)
Well said and +1.
The two other things locks might do are: 1) cause a delay / allow a neighbor to spot the person trying to pick or break the lock, or 2) make noise. A wrecking bar, in most cases, is far faster than trying to defeat a lock - two persons with two bars (and in some cases just a single bar) can pop almost any dual locked wood frame door and many metal ones. A hammer on a large enough window (as you mentioned) is likewise sufficient for the vast majority of cases.
Security is always relative and never absolute, in my experience.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Thursday May 09 2019, @04:19PM (1 child)
I often wish that traps (AKA "mantraps") were legal. I'd totally invest in — or just build — something along the lines of a pit of gnashing blades.
"No, officer, there is no body. Yes, my roses are doing well — I just composted them, see?"
--
I want to grow my own food, but I can't find pizza seeds.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Friday May 10 2019, @05:58PM
Yes, I've always wanted one [fandom.com] as well.
Oh, wait...
This sig for rent.