via NYPOST:
Big Apple grocers who have been using facial-recognition technology to battle a citywide shoplifting epidemic are fuming over a City Council proposal that would ban the software — just as shopkeepers say it is beginning to prove effective.
The proposed bill — which follows the city’s feud with Madison Square Garden owner James Dolan, who has used the tech to bar his legal enemies from events at his sports and entertainment venues – would require private businesses and residential buildings to obtain customers’ written consent before their biometric information is captured.
Such a rule would make it practically impossible for supermarkets to use the technology to combat theft — even as Dolan has grabbed headlines for using it at Radio City Music Hall, where he barred one lawyer from attending the Rockettes’ Christmas Spectacular with her daughter’s Girl Scout Troop.
While Dolan’s controversial clampdown helped galvanize legislators this spring, the bill has gained momentum as some argue that the technology should only be allowed for use by law enforcement, claiming that it increases the risk of racial profiling.