Canadian Real Estate Firm Draws Criticism Over Residential Facial Recognition

The Canadian real estate firm 1Valet has come under fire for using facial recognition on its properties. 1Valet currently manages three buildings in Ottawa and has another 12,000 units in development. Residents are allowed to use facial recognition to gain access to their building, though the system will record and store images of everyone who enters the building.

That last detail is a major point of contention for privacy advocates. They note that while tenants can choose to opt out of the system, the same is not true of visitors or delivery personnel, who will have their information recorded without their knowledge or consent.

The office of the Ontario privacy commissioner has issued video surveillance guidelines for institutions in the public sector, and has advised those organizations to prioritize less invasive security measures whenever possible. However, those guidelines do not apply to private companies or private properties, where facial recognition is essentially unregulated.

With that in mind, Canadian privacy advocates argue that the country needs to update its privacy laws, which do not have any provisions for facial recognition.   

“Canada’s privacy laws are 30 years old. They are not adequate,” said Privacy and Access Council of Canada President Sharon Polsky.

According to 1Valet, facial recognition is only used in building common areas, and not in residential units. The company’s setup allows property managers to keep tabs on lighting, surveillance cameras, and other smart building elements through a single panel.  

“Property managers have an editable database of everyone in the building,” said 1Valet spokesperson Hugo Moreira. “Anytime a door is opened, it gets logged.”

1Valet acknowledged that it had voluntarily handed over security footage to police offers following a break-in on one of its properties. The police did not request the footage and did not have a warrant in that case.

The news comes shortly after the Ottawa Police Service was criticized for running an undisclosed facial recognition trial in 2019. That trial eventually came to an end, though the RCMP has indicated that it will continue to use Clearview AI despite the considerable privacy concerns about the platform.

In the U.S., the state of Washington recently passed new facial recognition legislation that could serve as a template for other governments that want to regulate the use of the technology.

Source: Reuters

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April 9, 2020 – by Eric Weiss