Like many, Mary Beth McKenzie and her husband, Tony Mysak, have used keys all their lives.
They used keys to start cars, open locks and, for the last 45 years, to get into their New York home. The two live on the third floor of an apartment building in Hell's Kitchen, a neighborhood in Manhattan. They used keys to get in until last September, when their landlord switched to smart locks for getting into the building lobby.
Like homeowners, who are flocking to connected devices like smart locks and doorbells, landlords see the benefits that come from upgrading their units with smart security. It gives them greater control of access to their buildings and can eliminate the costs and hassles associated with lockouts and rekeying doors.
But smart locks aren't sitting well with tenants like McKenzie and Mysak, who have no control over the changes and fear they open the door to security and privacy threats. In a worst-case scenario, landlords could abuse this technology to track and harass residents.