A proposal before the Monroe County Legislature would require businesses including grocery stores, restaurants, and banks to disclose to customers if they use facial recognition technology.
The legislation, if adopted, would also prohibit the sale or exchange of biometric data for any reason and require any business that collects the data to destroy it within two years. It does not, however, ban the use of the technology outright.
The legislation is sponsored by Democratic legislators including Rachel Barnhart, Ricky Frazier, John Baynes, Nazish Jeffery, and Linda Hasman. Legislature committees are discussing the measure this week. They will decide whether to forward it to the full Legislature for consideration at its July meeting.
“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. “What they then do with that data, we don't know yet.”
Barnhart noted an array of concerns with the collection of biometric data, including the potential for a more complex form of identity theft. That concern is also outlined in the proposal.
“(Biometric information) is derived from a person’s physical or biological characteristics and may be difficult or impossible to replace if compromised,” the legislation reads. “Unlike a password or credit card number, biometric data is immutable.”
The legislation comes as state and local governments grapple with how to regulate the use of biometric surveillance. Last month, Erie County became the first county in the state to outright ban the collection of biometric information, including faces, fingerprints, irises, or voices. The Syracuse Common Council adopted similar legislation in May.
“This law creates a safer community for all by protecting a person's most basic and unique features: their face and biometric data,” Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said in a statement after he signed the bill.
Lawmakers statewide, including in Monroe County, began efforts to regulate biometric data collections in January. That month, a Wegmans store in New York City publicly posted signage that it was using facial recognition software in its stores. A Wegmans spokesperson at the time said it was only deploying the technology in a small number of stores that “exhibit elevated risk.”
Barnhart said the lack of regulation surrounding the use of biometric data, however, creates room for its misuse.
“Wegmans claim that they only use biometric data for security reasons,” Barnhart said. “Well, that may be the case today, but there aren't any guardrails about tomorrow.”
Sean McCabe, leader of the county Legislature’s Republican caucus, said the measure is more of a hindrance to businesses than anything else. He argued that the bill as it stands could potentially encumber businesses from fighting shoplifting and fraud.
“Shoplifting has become pervasive, and the penalties aren't significant,” McCabe said. “...If Sean McCabe comes in my store repeatedly and is walking out, use Wegmans as an example, I'm walking out with a couple packs of ribeyes every time, eventually, with the biometric data, hopefully they’re going to flag when I walk in your store, and maybe I'm not going to steal ribeyes today.”
McCabe said the potential benefits of biometric data outweigh the risks. The threat of identity theft is already omnipresent in society, he said, and trying to tamp down on surveillance at this point in time is a lost cause.
“As long as we're not invading locker rooms or bathrooms, I don't see any issue with it whatsoever,” McCabe said. “You’re on camera everywhere you go, you walk down the street, you're on 15 of your neighbors' Ring doorbells, or somebody's taking a picture of you, or you're on a surveillance camera.”
“That’s just the way society is,” he continued.
