L.D. is a threat to Big Tech’s interests. 1945, which would set up safeguards for how companies can use our identifications – fingerprints, faces, and voices – to defeat L.D.
We were booksellers because we love books and wanted to share that love with Portlanders. Our business model is built on trust, relationships, and knowledge sharing. It doesn’t intrude on the privacy of our customers.
Tech companies, along with other large out-of-state corporations like Amazon, Google, and Meta (formerly Facebook), have been attempting to block a bill that would regulate corporations’ collection, use, and sale of our personal, non-changeable biological characteristics. These include our fingerprints, faces, and the sound of your voice. These tech giants claim that the legislation will harm Maine’s flourishing business community.
We, small-business owners in Maine, would like to disagree. However, we believe that the passage of L.D. We believe that passing L.D. 1945, An Act To Regulate The Use of Biometric IDifiers is a critical step towards protecting our privacy.
Our independent bookstore doesn’t depend on your personal information to make their bottom line. Big Tech is known for gathering our data and then selling it. This is part of their business model: they charge for a service and then make money by selling biometric identifiers like your face. Clearview A.I., a secretive surveillance company, boasts about having created “the largest facial network in the world” using billions of faceprints they have gathered from all over the internet. Federal lawmakers worry that their database could eliminate public anonymity.
This legislation is crucial. If passed, L.D. L.D. 1945, if passed, would guarantee Mainers’ privacy by creating safeguards that limit how companies can gather and use our biometric identifiers. Imagine how frightening it can be to receive a notification that your login information has been stolen. The consequences of stealing biometric identifiers are more severe. Unlike a credit card or Social Security number, your biometric data cannot be reissued or revoked. This is why solid legal protections are needed for compassionate information.
These technologies can be used to create a new tool that allows abusers to follow their victims, wrongful arrests, or arbitrary exclusions from businesses. We are especially concerned about the grave threat they pose to Mainers and other marginalized communities. A federal study in 2019 of facial recognition systems showed that Asians and Black people were more likely than white men to be misidentified, depending on which algorithm was used and the type of search. Native Americans had the highest false-positive rate of any ethnicity. False identifications were more common in women than in men. Also, older children and those with more years were more likely than others to misidentify.
Maine’s legislature has proposed that companies obtain consent before collecting biometric identifiers like facial features, voices, and fingerprints. In addition, it would ban companies from selling biometric data and establish rules for how long they can keep it. This bill gives Maineans control over their biometric identifiers and allows them to exercise autonomy.
Every time a customer visits our store, we see it as our responsibility to ensure that they are safe and well looked after. It is also our responsibility to protect their privacy. We also feel the same about biometric identifiers. We are fed up with small businesses being used as an excuse by large corporations to profit from our privacy. All Mainers must agree to stronger privacy protections of our most private information.
