The Metropolitan Transit Authority has been barred from using facial recognition software to bust fare evaders, according to a new measure quietly passed in Albany.
The prohibition was slipped unnoticed into the state’s $237 billion budget, which passed last month.
The new law states the MTA must “not use, or arrange for the use, of biometric identifying technology, including but not limited to facial recognition technology, to enforce rules relating to the payment of fares.”
NYC congestion pricing will take a toll on Chinatown businesses, critics argue
Like many tweaks, the measure was shoehorned into the budget without public debate or comment.
State Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani of Queens told told Gothamist that facial recognition technology was a concern because it “could invade upon people’s lives through expanded surveillance and through the criminalization of just existing within the public sphere.”