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Technology is orthogonal to system change. It can be used to bolster existing modes of oppression or oppose them. Sometimes even the same technology can be used

Technology is orthogonal to system change. It can be used to bolster existing modes of oppression or oppose them. Sometimes even the same technology can be used to do both, based on who uses it! The real question is what is being deployed, who's pushing for the deployment, and who is benefiting. Taking smart keys, I'm skeptical tenants will see any improvement in terms of physical security. But I'm very willing to believe landlords perceive a benefit from increased surveillance of their renters. > The oppressors are not always landlords - they are brokers, real estate developers, law makers, voters, other tenants who sit on their rent controlled housing until they die. Hmm but weirdly enough it seems out of your big list of oppressors I see rent-controlled tenants pulled out more often as a boogeyman than any of the others!

leetcrew 6y ago
> Taking smart keys, I'm skeptical tenants will see any improvement in terms of physical security. But I'm very willing to believe landlords perceive a benefit from increased surveillance of their renters. I dunno why you would single these out (I'm assuming you mean the RFID setups they have on most new apartment buildings?). seems like they pretty obviously increase security over everyone having a common mechanical key to the main door. makes it way less of an issue when someone loses a key and/or moves out; you just deauthorize their code. once you give a couple hundred people the key to the front door, you either give up entirely on having the main entrance be secure, or you have to replace the lock and hundreds of keys over and over again.