Sonia Randhawa

A group of major New York civil rights organizations is calling for a statewide ban on the use of facial recognition and other biometric technology by law enforcement, housing, public accommodations and schools. The Ban The Scan coalition is pushing for the passage of four bills to enact a total ban on facial recognition across New York state, according to a release from the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP), which leads the public advocacy campaign. He says he is requesting it.

“Whether they go to the grocery store, learn in school, or enter their homes, facial recognition doesn’t keep New Yorkers safe,” said Colin Worthington, STOP Research and Advocacy Manager. “This racist technology has no place in policing, because time and time again we see this technology disproportionately impacting communities of color, especially Black New Yorkers. Because I have seen it.”

“Facial recognition is biased and broken,” the campaign's website says, “discriminating against BIPOC, Muslims, immigrants, and the LGBTQ+ community, and putting New Yorkers at risk of false arrest and police brutality. ” he claims. The report names the use of FRT by the NYPD and cites James Dolan's infamous Madison Square Garden deployment to detect hostile lawyers as evidence of infiltration into private businesses. “Banning the scans would protect millions of New Yorkers from the harm of biometric surveillance,” the site said.

Lawyer promotes biometric privacy law as FRT adoption surges

The concerns fueling the Ban the Scan campaign are not unfounded. Facial recognition technology is already trying to take root in several different areas. In New York alone, a debate has erupted over the ethical, legal and practical aspects of facial recognition in grocery stores, the retail industry, school systems and the entertainment industry. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, transit officials are planning to install facial recognition on public trains and buses in response to a spike in violent crime.

In a unique response to the increased use of facial recognition in New York State (and Dolan's sophistication), a New York State Bar Association working group issued a formal recommendation that its members support State Senate Bill 4459/Assembly Bill 1362. Announced. Similar to the Biometric Privacy Act, this law would allow customers to sue private organizations that collect biometric data without explicit written consent. Specifically, the law provides that “a private entity in possession of biometric identifiers or biometric information may be required to Requires a written policy to establish a retention schedule and guidelines for the permanent destruction of identifiers and biometric information” or within three years of the individual’s last interaction with a private entity, whichever occurs first. . ”

Outabox breach reveals vulnerabilities in biometric database

In addition to concerns about privacy rights and mass surveillance in the deployment of facial recognition systems, a new issue has arisen: database leaks. STOP points to the recent “massive data hack” of Outabox, a facial recognition company used to verify age in bars, clubs and casinos. The breach allowed a hacker claiming to be a former developer of Outabox to set up his website hosting facial biometrics, ID scans, signatures, and other sensitive personal information of Outabox users, targeting approximately 1 million users. of Australians' data has been leaked.Data comes from Australian venues only, but Outabox also has locations in the Philippines and the US

“The time has come to face up to how insecure facial recognition is,” STOP Executive Director Albert Fox Kahn said in a release.

“It's bad enough to see police and landlords using facial recognition,” Khan said. “But it's ridiculous that lawmakers are pushing for the use of facial recognition to verify age. We already know how to give our kids six-packs, and this method puts the public's biometric data at risk.” There is no need to expose it to