Many crimes committed in a certain area of Chongqing were committed by non-residents, so facial recognition cameras were seen as a way to combat this.

But critics warn such widespread surveillance violates internationally guaranteed rights to privacy. To meet international privacy standards enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, both collection and use of biometric data should be limited to people found to be involved in wrongdoing, and not broad populations who have no specific link to crime. Individuals should have the right to know what biometric data the government holds on them. China’s automated facial recognition systems violate those standards.

“These systems are being developed and implemented without meaningful privacy protections against state surveillance. The depth, breadth and intrusiveness of the Chinese government’s mass surveillance on its citizens may be unprecedented in modern history.”

Cities elsewhere may not be too far behind China’s mass surveillance.

With 2.58m cameras covering 15.35 million people – equal to one camera for every six residents – Chongqing has more surveillance cameras than any other city in the world for its population, beating even Beijing, Shanghai and tech hub Shenzhen.

“With the rise of things like facial recognition, that is why we need new legislation that decides what is in the public’s interest and the legal structure within which they can be used. We shouldn’t drift there by accident.”

And part of that is building trust with the community based on good community information, not on Big Brother technology.”

Since then, two more Californian cities, Oakland and Berkeley, have also passed bans on all government use of facial recognition technology. Somerville, Massachusetts, passed a similar law this summer.

Some people support facial recognition on the basis that technology has always driven change and is a force for good if used responsibly and proportionately.

Omanovic argues that live facial recognition fundamentally threatens free societies. “It might start with the monitoring of just a few thousand people but it definitely won’t end there,” says Omanovic. “Authorities need to permanently ban its roll out now before it’s too late.”

“Singapore has plans to install 100,000 facial-recognition cameras on lampposts, Chicago police have asked for 30,000 more, and Moscow intends to have 174,000 by the end of this year.”

This list of reasons isn’t exhaustive, but serves as a solid starting point for understanding the United States’ e-waste dilemma and what can be done.

U.S. e-waste recycling laws are often outdated or nonexistent

Only 25 states (plus Washington, D.C.) have legislation that addresses e-waste recycling. The other 25 don’t have comprehensive programs, and don’t report what happens to the electronics beyond occasional voluntary numbers, says Jason Linnell, head of the National Center for Electronics Recycling (NCER). Federal laws don’t explicitly address e-waste recycling.

The U.S. isn’t good at recycling

The current level and effectiveness of e-waste recycling depends on which state you live in and whether or not you trust locals to “do the right thing.” The hope for improvement sits with congressional reps, state lawmakers, manufacturers, and gadget freaks (yes, you).

Single-stream recycling hasn’t helped

Between 2005 and 2014, single stream recycling programs increased from 29 to 80 percent in American towns and cities. During that same time period, material contamination rates increased from 7 to 25 percent.

E-waste legislation regularly disappears in Congress

This is not the first Congressional session in which similar bills have been introduced and allowed to die like a first grade classroom goldfish on summer break. SEERA currently sits with the house’s Foreign Affairs Committee. Why is it so tough to pass e-waste legislation?

The U.S. is an environmental rogue

As of late 2018, 186 states and the European Union have ratified it and follow its legal framework. The United States has signed the Basel Convention, indicating an intent to ratify, but is the only developed nation that hasn’t actually done so, which

After the initial Basel Convention was adopted in 1989, many organizations said the treaty didn’t do enough to address the disposal of waste from first world countries into the developing world, and pressed for an update, which eventually became 1995’s Basel Ban Amendment. The tweak — which was attacked by many industrial powers, including the U.S., Canada, and Japan — needed three decades before it was accepted by enough countries to go into effect. In August 2019, Croatia became the 97th country to ratify it, which transformed the updated stipulations into international law in December 2019.

EPA regulations are incomplete

Federal attempts at regulation have stalled, been killed

U.S. pushes back against international efforts

As a part of the 2003 Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE Directive), the public was guaranteed free recycling services, and conveniently located collection centers. Around the same time, the EU also passed the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS), aka the “lead-free directive,” which restricts the use of several toxic materials in the manufacture of circuitry and electronic products.

In Japan, the Association for Electric Home Appliances requires consumers to help pay for the processing of their goods and manufacturers to set up recycling programs. Electronics recycling has been promoted as such a point of national pride — because Japan is both a huge consumer of gadgets and the country has few indigenous precious metals — that there’s serious talk of making the 2020 Tokyo Olympic metals out of recycled materials. An estimated 80,000 cell phones need to be pulled apart and picked over to complete the plan.

State-level e-cycling programs are uneven

Certified e-cycling programs are important, but also confusing

If you’re the compliance officer who has to make sure the company’s used servers don’t wind up getting tossed in an Indonesian landfill, and you won’t have to nervously answer questions in a “60 Minutes” exposé, you probably want to get that e-waste removed by a disposal team with one of these

That all sounds great until you listen to Puckett, who helped create the e-Stewards protocols. He’s one of several people who took part in the development of R2 for over two years and then refused to continue when the proposed guidelines seemed to be too tainted by lobbyists, including ones at the Institute of Scrap Recycling (ISRI), an organization that favors a free market approach over regulation. Puckett and 13 recyclers created e-Stewards, which describes itself as the “the cleanest, most globally responsible standard for e-waste recycling.” He points out that the R2 certification still allows recyclers to export to developing countries. E-Stewards’ doesn’t. R2 recyclers can drop toxic e-waste in landfills or incinerators in the event of “circumstances beyond their

Scrap recycling lobby doesn’t like regulations

The announcer proudly explains e-cycling is a vibrant industry that adds 20.6 billion to the U.S. economy and supports 45,000 jobs domestically, “safeguarding our environment,” along the way.

Can anything be done? Possibly

Recycling isn’t the only answer for fewer landfills filled with decaying circuits. Chris Wellise, Chief Sustainability Officer for Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), which installs and recovers tech, emphasizes the importance of designing products for longevity, disassembly, and reuse.

“On average, 85 percent of the environmental impacts can be addressed in the design phase,” estimates Wellise.

Similar challenges exist for smartphones. Review IFixit’s guide for repairability and you can expect the phones that are easy to disassemble are also easier to refurbish or scrap. In an unusual display of transparency, eco-minded electronics company Fairphone sells spare parts on its site and has visual cues printed on the pieces to help novices figure out where everything goes. In case you’re wondering, it’s possible to make a Fairphone work in America, but most of the company’s sales are in Europe.

In 2018, Apple gave birth to Daisy, a robot that can disassemble 200 of the company’s phones in an hour — 1.2 million a year. The company has an installation of the machine in Austin, Texas, and another in the Netherlands. Daisy’s supply chain of used products comes from the company’s in-store trade-in program and a partnership with Best Buy.

Pretty awe-inspiring, right? Keep in mind that Apple sold over 217 million phones just in 2018 and has moved 2.2 billion iPhone units since the product line launched in 2007. The two Daisy divisions aren’t even working at capacity. Apple is willing to license the robot technology so any company can use it to disassemble phones, but none have approached them yet.

The Mobile Proximity Marketing Advantages for Retailers

The retailer added beacon technology to their stores in advance of Black Friday in 2015 through its Walk In and Win campaign. Macy employees and advertisements notified visitors of the upcoming event, encouraging them to download the store app in order to stay in the loop. Then, to incentivize consumers on Black Friday, users were given the opportunity to win prizes and play games via their mobile devices whenever they entered a Macy’s store.

Increased brand awareness:

Engaged users:

An automated edge:

Insights on purchase behaviors:

High-performing, innovative third-party retail apps provide proximity marketing that retailers can easily implement while avoiding many logistical concerns. Reputable partner apps have strong systems in place to prevent data breaches and have the experience to know how to interact with consumers without being intrusive.

However, there are some challenges to be aware of. As it’s an emerging marketing technique, there are still some challenges to be aware of before you implement the technology in your store.

The Challenges of Proximity Marketing and its Disadvantages

Conversion issues:

Excessive opt-ins:

Management complexity:

Privacy concerns:

While proximity marketing is not without its disadvantages, many of these concerns can be resolved by choosing to partner with a trusted third-party mobile app. By capitalizing on the expertise of third-party companies, retailers of all sizes are able to achieve high conversion rates with beacon-based proximity marketing campaigns.

Higher conversion rates:

(i.e. their hotel and its rooms), or enhance the experience of exploring the surrounding area.

Augmented reality technology can make a lot of this information readily available to customers at all times of the day, improving their entire experience.

Today, millennials are the dominant consumer generation and they are also more likely than previous generations to utilise digital technology and buy things like virtual reality and augmented reality devices.

1. Interactive Hotel Rooms

An example of this is seen with The Hub Hotel from Premier Inn in the United Kingdom, which has started using AR in conjunction with wall maps placed in its hotel rooms.

2. Gamification

3. Augmented Hotel Environments

For example, Holiday Inn created an augmented reality hotel experience, which allowed guests to point their smartphone and see realistic virtual depictions of famous celebrities in the hotel.

Meanwhile, Best Western experimented with augmented reality and Disney stars, allowing children to see themselves alongside characters from Disney films, and other hotels have used AR apps to allow guests to virtually redecorate.

4. Beacon Technology

Virtual Reality & Artificial Intelligence

This internet connectivity and communication capability allows devices to find information from the internet, and to interact with other devices in the nearby vicinity.

With that being said, smart hotel solutions has grown in popularity for other reasons, such as its ability to reduce some of the costs associated with running a hotel.

One of the main benefits of a smart hotel room is the ability to offer guests a greater level of personalisation.

For hotel management, one of the biggest advantages of creating a smart hotel is the reduced costs that are often associated with the concept. This is primarily due to improvements to sustainability and energy efficiency within the hotel rooms, with certain devices only being used when they are actually needed.

Perhaps the most immediately obvious benefit of a smart hotel room is the improvement it can deliver in terms of the customer experience. A smart speaker, such as that provided through the Alexa for Hospitality service, assists with this by making it possible for TVs, lights, heating and other devices to be controlled through voice commands.

Another benefit of smart hotel rooms and the Internet of Things is the ability for hotel staff to access a variety of room controls from a remote location. This is especially useful when it comes to getting a hotel room ready for a new guest, improving the level of comfort they are greeted with upon checking in.

e advantage that is sometimes overlooked when it comes to smart rooms is the improved ability to anticipate technical issues with devices and make repairs swiftly. This allows hotels to intervene at the most timely possible moment, avoiding situations where the need for repairs hinders the customer experience.

While a growing number of owners are willing to embrace the idea of smart hotel rooms, many are unsure of how to go about actually implementing smart hotel systems. To help out, in the article “7 Ways to Transform a Hotel Room Into a Smart Room” you will find seven ways to transform a hotel room into a smart room.

Video: Example of a smart hotel room

A software provider will either host the application and related data using its own servers, databases, networking and computing resources, or it may be an ISV that contracts a cloud provider to host the application in the provider's data center.

As a result, companies using SaaS applications are not tasked with the setup and maintenance of the software. Users simply pay a subscription fee to gain access to the software, which is a ready-made solution.

SaaS removes the need for organizations to install and run applications on their own computers or in their own data centers. This eliminates the expense of hardware acquisition, provisioning and maintenance, as well as software licensing, installation and support. Other benefits of the SaaS model include:

Depending on the service-level agreement (SLA), the customer's data for each model may be stored locally, in the cloud or both locally and in the cloud.

SaaS applications and services typically use a multi-tenant approach, which means a single instance of the SaaS application will be running on the host servers, and that single instance will serve each subscribing customer or cloud tenant.

The typical multi-tenant architecture of SaaS applications means the cloud service provider can manage maintenance, updates and bug fixes faster, easier and more efficiently. Rather than having to implement changes in multiple instances, engineers can make necessary changes for all customers by maintaining the one, shared instance.

According to a recent McKinsey & Company report, technology industry analysts predict further growth in the software as a service market, and expect to see the market for SaaS products near $200 billion by 2024. 

SaaS also poses some potential risks and challenges, as businesses must rely on outside vendors to provide the software, keep that software up and running, track and report accurate billing and facilitate a secure environment for the business's data.

As a result, security is more the responsibility of the independent software vendor and third-party cloud provider.

SaaS is one of the three major cloud service models, along with IaaS and PaaS. All three models involve cloud providers that deliver their own hosted data center resources to customers over the internet.

Salesforce Google Workspace apps Microsoft 36

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However, he said that because of their marketing dollars, OTAs had a huge impact that would affect consumer behavior—a belief that guests could get the best and cheapest price if they booked via third parties, helping to fuel OTAs’ market share and bringing the issue top of mind for hoteliers’ wallets.

Today’s consumer, thanks to online travel agencies and technology in general, are more sophisticated and educated than they were 20 years ago. That sophistication has touched many areas of the industry.

Enhanced consumer awareness has also led to niches within the industry, such as boutique hotels, extended-stay product and a focus on all guest types that has seen an emergence of new amenities, Rogers said.

“These demands have led to the prevalence of services such as high speed Wi-Fi, complimentary hot breakfast, expanded in-room technology and entertainment options, and fitness centers.”

Rogers said that some older hotels can’t keep up with the shift due to many select-service properties becoming higher end and providing all the amenities guests want.

He said select service will continue to be the industry’s preferred model moving forward because it contributes to higher profit margins and return on investment.

“As the technology and internet became more and more part of our society, it became more complicated to operate the hotels so there is a need for third-party operators and good franchisees,” Rogers said. “It impacted the smaller operators but delivered what the consumer was expecting.”

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