Facial Recognition May Be Banned From Public Housing Thanks To Proposed Law

Lawmakers in Congress are expected to introduce landmark legislation this week that will ban facial recognition technology from public housing. Called the No Biometric Barriers to Housing Act, the proposed bill would prohibit housing units that receive funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development from using technology like facial recognition. It would also require HUD to submit a report on facial recognition, detailing its impact on public housing units and their tenants. CNET reports: This would be the first federal bill that looks at what technology landlords can impose on tenants. While the law would only affect HUD housing, it could raise awareness for a broader set of landlords and tenants, and it comes as people are increasingly questioning the threats to privacy that stem from facial recognition. The only other federal bill on facial recognition is the Commercial Facial Recognition Privacy Act, introduced in March by Sens. Roy Blunt, a Republican from Missouri, and Brian Schatz, a Democrat from Hawaii. There also aren’t any laws on technology that landlords can impose on tenants. More than 20,000 homes in the last two years have been converted into smart homes by landlords, even as tenants complain about privacy concerns and issues with faulty locks.