A coalition of privacy advocates, local lawmakers and artists gathered outside Moynihan Train Hall, across from Madison Square Garden, on Aug. 14 to renew calls to end the use of biometric surveillance in places of public accommodation such as MSG. The group also urged the City Council to pass Council Member Shahana Hanif’s (D-Brooklyn) Ban the Scan, Int. 213, which would prohibit businesses open to the public from collecting or using customers’ biometric information for surveillance.
The organizers — Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P.), Fight for the Future, NYC DSA Tech Action, the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club, and musicians Cristy Road Carrera and Paisley Fields — urged immediate action as more private businesses implement biometric surveillance. They warned that sensitive information — including people’s faces, names and voices — is vulnerable to misuse, could be sold to third parties such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or exposed in data breaches.
