A proposed law in Monroe County, New York, would require businesses such as grocery stores, restaurants, and banks to tell customers when they use facial recognition, and would bar the sale or exchange of biometric data, without banning the technology outright. The measure is before the county Legislature, where committees are weighing this week whether to advance it for a full vote at the July meeting.
The bill pairs disclosure with limits on what happens to the data. Alongside the notice requirement, it would prohibit the sale or exchange of biometric data for any reason and require any business that collects it to destroy the data within two years. Sponsored by a group of Democratic legislators including Rachel Barnhart, it stops short of prohibiting facial recognition, instead aiming to put guardrails around how it is used and how long the data lives.
Supporters argue biometric data deserves stricter treatment than ordinary camera footage. “Biometric data is fundamentally different from video surveillance, because what it does is it scans your face, and it creates a mathematical template that is then stored, and they can create a profile of you based upon your face,” Barnhart said, adding that what companies ultimately do with that data is not yet clear. The legislation itself notes that biometric information is immutable and “may be difficult or impossible to replace if compromised,” unlike a password or card number.
The proposal follows a string of similar moves across New York, where Erie County passed a Biometric Transparency and Privacy Act restricting business use and the Syracuse Common Council passed a biometric surveillance ban for public-facing businesses. Retail use of the technology has also drawn litigation elsewhere, as with a proposed class action against Amazon Ring over its Familiar Faces feature.
Not everyone is convinced. Sean McCabe, who leads the Legislature’s Republican caucus, called the measure more of a hindrance to businesses than a protection, arguing it could hamper efforts to fight shoplifting and fraud and that pervasive surveillance is already a fact of daily life.
Sources: WXXI News
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By the ID Tech Editorial Team
