Regulation AI Minute Newsroom 2026-08-15

A majority of New York's council now backs banning shops and venues from scanning your face at the door

A bill that would stop businesses open to the public in New York City from using biometric recognition — face, iris, voice, fingerprint or gait — to identify customers has reached 28 co-sponsors on the 51-member City Council, and on 14 August Mayor Zohran Mamdani's administration said it supports it. Council Member Shahana Hanif's "Ban the Scan" bill, Int. 213, would also block selling or sharing the data collected, and would let a customer sue for up to $5,000 for each intentional or reckless violation. The backing was announced at a rally outside Madison Square Garden, whose owner James Dolan has used face scanning at the door to identify and turn away lawyers from firms suing the venue. The bill still needs Council Speaker Julie Menin, who has not endorsed it and controls whether it reaches a vote.

Why it mattersAlmost every face-recognition rule written so far points at the police. This one points at the shop, the arena and the landlord — the places you walk into without being asked for anything. New York happens to hold the clearest public example of what that power does in private hands: a venue owner scanning the door to keep out people whose employers are suing him, which is not a security use at all. With 28 sponsors and City Hall behind it the arithmetic exists; what is missing is one person's decision to schedule a vote. If it passes, the largest city in the United States flips the default at the door from "scanned unless someone stops it" to "not scanned", and the template becomes available to every other city council that wants it.

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A majority of New York's council now backs banning shops and venues from scanning your face at the door

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