New York City lawmakers are pushing to ban private businesses from using biometric tools like voice and facial recognition software to track the public.

The City Council on Monday held a hearing on proposed legislation that seeks to rein in the type of “Big Brother” surveillance that has grown more common in apartment buildings and grocery stores like Macy’s and Wegmans, a Rochester-based chain with locations in Brooklyn and Manhattan that began storing biometric data of shoppers earlier this year.

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“The urgency comes from earlier this year when we learned that Wegmans is now using biometric technology,” Hanif said during Monday’s hearing. ”A lot of us, including myself, shop at Wegmans.”

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