Trying to get ahead of biometric technology used in stores and other pubic establishments around the country, Syracuse city lawmakers Monday unanimously passed a local law that would ban it the technology for city businesses under penalty of civil law.
The biometric technology used in businesses can identify individuals by their physical attributes, everything from eye color to the way someone walks.
"The concept of walking into a grocery store and having someone tracking your movements, is garbage," said Councilor Jimmy Monto, one of the bill's co-sponsors.
The concern here is privacy rights. Women in black, brown, LGBTQ+, and other communities, are more likely to be misidentified by the algorithms used in the technology. Monto said it was important for the city to get ahead of this technology.
"We're very often playing catch-up with things like this, and in this case we're not," he said. "We're getting out ahead of it and saying 'listen, the actual technology right now, Syracuse is not the place for it. I'm not sure there is a place for it."
The question is how to enforce the law. Councilor Corey Williams, another co-sponsor, said lawmakers have chosen a model that uses civil litigation.
"In our legislation, there's a provision that allows for civil liability for entities that are utilized in these technologies and for each instance it is punishable by up to $1,000 if an individual were to take that corporation to court."
That’s the same strategy as some biometrics legislation being considered in Albany, under a bill sponsored by central New York State Sen. Rachel May (D-Syracuse). A similar bill is working its way through the State Assembly. Monto notes Syracuse lawmakers also went on record asking the state to move on the issue.
"My hope for this is we are telegraphing to the state legislature that we need to do something statewide," Monto said. "We need to get ahead of it and make it more enforceable."
Mayor Sharon Owens is required to hold a public hearing on the law before deciding whether to sign it. If she vetoes the legislation, the council can override with a two-thirds majority.
