An effort to limit the collection of images of your face and eyes, sometimes called biometric data-- without consent failed to get out of a House of Delegates committee Wednesday morning.
According to Prince William County Delegate Michelle Maldonado, the security camera you’ve installed on your door is collecting not only your face, but the faces of those who visit you.
"If I’m a neighbor who comes next door and I need a cup of sugar cause I’m making my sugar cookies, and I knock on your door, ring your doorbell, they can take my biometric data and I don’t even know,” Maldonado told a House Technology and Innovation subcommittee.
Maldonado's bill wouldn’t limit the use of these cameras, but it would require consent for that image to be collected. She said states like Texas and Illinois have similar data collection limits, and she pointed to recent reports that some grocery stores were collecting such data.
“And I, and many people who have asked me to bring this bill and things like this, don't want to live in a world that looks like Minority Report,” the delegate added, referencing the Phillip K. Dick novel turned 2002 sci-fi classic starring Tom Cruise.
And while Maldonado’s bill had support from progressive groups, the grocery store industry had other concerns. Here’s Travis Smiley with Virginia Food Industry Association:
“This is a way to help be able to identify wrong doings, in order to protect our community, our associates and the products that we sell,” Smiley told the committee.
The bill was laid on the table, killed for the year, with members of both parties voting for and against.
