Privacy News Could your face change what you pay? NYC wants limits on biometric tracking

[Brownie2019]

Content source

https://www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/2026/03/could-your-face-change-what-you-pay-nyc-wants-limits-on-biometric-tracking

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

While the desire to use surveillance technology in stores to fight shoplifting is understandable, lawmakers and privacy advocates are worried that the data could be repurposed to profile customers.

The New York City Council has held a hearing over two bills that would ban city landlords and businesses from using facial recognition technology.

• One proposal would make it illegal for any public place to use biometric recognition technology to identify or verify a customer.
• The other would prohibit landlords from installing, activating, or using any biometric recognition technology that identifies tenants or their guests.

In this article we want to focus on some of the reasons behind these proposals.

Full Story:

Could your face change what you pay? NYC wants limits on biometric tracking

NYC lawmakers are pushing to rein in biometric tracking before it turns into real-world surveillance pricing and customer profiling.

www.malwarebytes.com

 

[TairikuOkami]

That is almost laughable, considering that US and EU have recently introduced biometric passports at airports.
I would not mind paying with a smile, so to say, like in China. I am already using Lidl Pay, buying groceries daily.

 

[Halp2001]

Biometric recognition is like inviting a magician to the checkout counter: he opens the door without a key and charges you without a card… but he also keeps your face for the final trick. A double-edged sword: security and convenience on one side, and on the other the suspicion that the magician never works for free. In the end, what looks like progress may turn into a magic show where the audience pays more than they think.