With recent reports of Cadillac Fairview using facial recognition to track people (without their permission), the question of privacy - within properties and the real estate industry – is up for discussion again.
So how secure are we within a public space or in private property? Knowing that people are being tracked or analyzed can seem terrifying for anyone. Information is stored in servers with firewalls and immense security. Many corporations and businesses, for instance, use cybersecurity to maintain a protected sense of privacy within their company. Some of the measures undertaken are:
- Proper tenant screening
- COVID-19 tracing & screening
- Remote identity verification
Tenant screening
The Tenant Verification Service (also known as TVS) is an online verification service that helps qualify people as potential tenants by the landlord. This service only provides the necessary information to ensure that the tenant does not have any previous criminal history or experiences with evictions and/or late payments.
Certain laws, for instance, prohibit landlords from investigating too deep into tenant's profiles that break the code of privacy laws within the industry. Landlords need time and legitimate reason to check through a tenant's credit history, proof of work, SIN numbers, or even previous rental history.
Landlords need a consent to run a background check. Additionally, application for tenants need to only include what is necessary to apply for tenant status within a property.
With the TVS software, landlords can ensure screening is ethical and safe as - they are within the law.
Furthermore, the landlord's responsibility is to confirm that the information they receive in the screening process is legitimate and recent. The data should be at least within the past year or up to date on the last property that a tenant may have resided in, along with the current job they are in.
Applicants may be denied if they falsify or concoct any information that is not accurate. It is where the landlord's judgment comes into play; whether or not they take further action to investigate the probable tenant to take up a unit within their building. Ethics and social responsibility should be part of the key components for a landlord when pursuing any aspect of the business.
A landlord should know the boundaries and recognize when they are overstepping them. In a world where everything is being constantly watched and monitored, it isn't difficult to comprehend how easy it is for someone to gain access to your private information.
With the correct practices to safeguard tenants' private information, landlords must take the initiative to store and process information appropriately.
COVID-19 Tracing and Screening
The government of Canada has currently opened an app for COVID-19 tracing. They assure that your information is safe within the database and that you won't be able to read the information of anyone close to you in proximity while using the app. The app uses Bluetooth to exchange random codes with other phones. Through this methodology, you can see if you've been near someone who's tested positive over the past 14 days. It should be noted that the app does not track your location through GPS, nor does it know your name, phone number, or address.
These personal data sets are not deemed important for tracing COVID-19; simply knowing the proximity you are within through the range of Bluetooth and not GPS is enough. (Obviously, Bluetooth has a much lower capacity than a GPS does, so it makes sense that the app won't know your exact location.) Not everyone in Canada wants to download the app, even though the Government of Canada has ensured everyone's private data being secure within the app.
Over 4 million people have downloaded the app, but even that isn't enough to track the entire population of Canada. The idea of being constantly tracked for some people isn't the best objective – especially by your government.
As for real estate, the use of this app within private property should be encouraged & implemented through proper education and marketing. Property owners can see who has COVID within their property and whether or not to allow them onto the premises. It can help make a sheltered environment among offices and other buildings to create a safe bubble within public spaces.
The digital means of tracking come with its advantages and disadvantages in our world today. To properly digitalize the tracking of COVID-19, it is required that the system's users all have smartphones. Most people in western society do carry a smartphone, but what about our counterparts in the east?
Many nations that don't have basic internet access will struggle to implement such a system to track everything accordingly. It means that if an individual walked into any establishment in a country that doesn't have this system, they would be subject to contracting the virus and not knowing whether or not they are in a safe place.
Now, the establishment can provide a sign saying that there has been recent exposure to COVID within the location. But the timeliness of not knowing, having to reach the location, and then knowing is inefficient.
As for screening, proper disclosure should be given to an individual that their information is being used for statistical and research purposes as they undertake any testing. Such measures are already in place by the Canadian government as they report numbers daily with the consent of the people undergoing testing. These reports are kept safe in secure private databases. The information being posted to the public only provides the details that the country needs regarding where the breakouts are happening, along with the daily inclines and declines of the positive tests.
Remote identity verification
Due to the pandemic, the methods of meeting face to face for certain businesses have become obsolete. Many have resorted to virtual meetings or offering customer support through the phone and other means online. Banks and other institutions have now created ways to authenticate and verify your ID without having to meet in person safely. Banks are known to have secure databases for their client's sensitive information.
Verifying your ID through the internet is also used within the healthcare industry for doctors and patients, schools for online learning, and even remote hiring. When we think about the real estate industry and how this can be used, we think of virtual open houses for "client exclusive" tours where they would have to verify their identity online and then have access to the tour.
Or even through the means of going to a property in person and having access for a timed tour by themselves through a QR code which leads to an identification page to allow them within the home. (Granted – this home has indoor security and other preventative measures)
Ontario has even moved the health card and driver's license system to an app where people can pull out their ID on their phones. It can help avoid line ups at service offices – which is unnecessary during a pandemic.
The bottom line is that keeping real-life interactions minimal in our world today is extremely important for decreasing the risk of Coronavirus transmission. While research and testing are being done at record speeds far more efficient than we have ever seen in humanity, it is vital to keep this data safe and kept under layers of digital security to protect people's sensitive data within the nation.