As biometric identification becomes more commonplace in New York, private companies are more easily able to collect data on New Yorkers’ lives – and advocates and some elected officials believe this should stop.
They fear the information, which includes individuals’ faces, names and voices, could land in the hands of law enforcement agencies, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or hackers, either intentionally or through data breaches.
…
In a statement, Council Member Shahana Hanif explained the reasoning behind her bill to ban biometric data collection in public spaces.
“This bill protects everybody,” she said, “but we know who experiences disproportionate surveillance, and our immigrant community is among them.”
Read more here
