PROTECTING YOUR BIOMETRICS

A Column from the Desk of Assemblyman Karl Brabenec (R,C-Deerpark)

Technology is advancing at an unprecedented rate, and the scale of its growth is sometimes incomprehensible. For comparison’s sake, there was only a 60-year difference between when the Wright brothers constructed the first working aircraft and when NASA sent a man to the moon. And today, we have computers in our pockets that function like a phone, a video player, a music player, a camera and more – and they are cheaper to produce while being exponentially more powerful than the computers we used that sent those men to the moon. As technology advances, privacy concerns have been brought up again and again, particularly with biometrics, which are unique identifiers that identify you as a person through physical characteristics like eye color or fingerprints. New York should be on the front lines of protecting that. Phones can be opened and unlocked with a face or and finger scan, and institutions like businesses and banks have equally picked up on this technology for customer convenience. Unfortunately, hackers and bad actors are getting better at stealing this information and compromising livelihoods. I’ve signed on to a measure that would look to require businesses and companies that collect and use biometric data to notify individuals that they do indeed do so. Consumers must be appropriately informed before they make important decisions about their personal information, and the onus should be on these companies to inform their clients about their practices. The proposal also has a measure that would ensure this data will be deleted if not used for its intended purpose, and to prevent it from being sold to third parties, both malicious and benign, to ensure your personal biometric blueprint is not exposed or exploited in an ever-evolving digital age. The problems wouldn’t stop with this bill, and more problems will likely present themselves down the line, but as a preventative and forward-thinking measure, I am glad to support it, and I hope it will be signed into law soon. Assemblyman Brabenec represents the 98th District, which includes the city of Port Jervis, the towns of Deerpark, Greenville, Mount Hope, Wawayanda, Minisink, Warwick, Tuxedo and portions of the towns of Goshen, Monroe and Ramapo. For more information, please visit his Official Website at www.yourfavoriteassemblyman.com.