Smartaira & plume wifi motion detection: Difference between revisions

|Description=Apartment complex residents provided Smartaira internet with Plume hardware capable of motion detection via Wi‑Fi, raising tenant privacy concerns

Smartaira is an internet service provider that specializes in bulk broadband solutions for multi‑dwelling units (MDUs) like apartment complexes. Instead of residents choosing their own internet provider for their apartment, the property owner contracts Smartaira to provide service throughout the building. Smartaira installs & manages the network infrastructure, including community‑wide Wi‑Fi & in‑unit wired Ethernet jacks; each apartment connects with private credentials to a secure virtual LAN (VLAN).<ref name="smartaira-owners">{{cite web |url=https://smartaira.com/property-owners/ |title=Property Owners |website=Smartaira |access-date=2025-11-18}}</ref><ref name="smartaira-wifi-faqs">{{cite web |url=https://communities.smartaira.com/dedicated-wifi-faqs |title=Dedicated Wi‑Fi FAQs |website=Smartaira |access-date=2025-11-18}}</ref>

Plume's motion sensing technology, known as "Plume Motion" or "Sense," uses Wi‑Fi signal disruptions to detect movement in the home. This allows a Wi‑Fi router to double as a passive motion detector by analyzing how wireless signals fluctuate when someone moves through a space.<ref name="plume-privacy-notice">{{cite web |url=https://www.plume.com/legal/privacy-rights-notice |title=Privacy Rights Notice (U.S.) |website=Plume |date=2024-07-01 |access-date=2025-11-18}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://armstrongonewire.com/Support/Internet/Articles/PlumeMotion |title=Plume HomePass® Sense |website=Armstrong |access-date=2025-11-18}}</ref>

Plume's U.S. Privacy Rights Notice serves as a CCPA/CPRA "Notice at Collection" & lists categories of data processed for Plume Home, including "motion in the home … collected as disruptions in Wi‑Fi waves … which collectively provide a pattern of motion & motion history," as well as inferences drawn to create behavioral profiles.<ref name="plume-privacy-notice" /> Plume's Customer Privacy Policy further clarifies that a Customer Network administrator can disable motion sensing, at which point Plume will no longer collect live motion data or generate motion reports. However, this does not mean that the tenant has the ability to disable motion sensing. <ref name="plume-customer-privacy">{{cite web |url=https://www.plume.com/legal/privacy |title=Customer Privacy Policy |website=Plume |access-date=2025-11-18}}</ref>

The presence of Wi‑Fi‑based motion detection & motion history in a centrally administered, bulk network raises tenant privacy concerns about occupancy tracking & behavioral profiling in the home, given Plume's documentation of motion histories & inferences.<ref name="plume-privacy-notice" /> Plume provides user‑facing motion alert notifications & a motion history view in its app, showing the granularity of data available about in‑home activity patterns.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://support.plume.com/s/article/How-do-I-set-up-motion-alert-notifications |title=How do I set up motion alert notifications? |website=Plume Support |access-date=2025-11-18}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://support.plume.com/s/topic/0TO6g000000x9deGAA/motion |title=Motion (topic hub) |website=Plume Support |access-date=2025-11-18}}</ref> In administrator‑managed networks, Plume states that the Customer Network administrator, NOT the resident, has the option to disable motion sensing, which is relevant to opt‑out control in bulk deployments.<ref name="plume-customer-privacy" />

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