Co-Founder Thomas Sawyer stands in front of his facial recognition system from the company Blue Line Technology, at a convenience store in St. Louis,

One U.S. state stands out in restricting corporate use of biometrics: Illinois

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2021-09-17 02:30:03

Co-Founder Thomas Sawyer stands in front of his facial recognition system from the company Blue Line Technology, at a convenience store in St. Louis, Missouri, U.S., June 14, 2021. Picture taken June 14, 2021. REUTERS/Lawrence Bryant

ST. LOUIS, Sept 16 (Reuters) - When night fell, a clerk at a bustling 24-hour MotoMart flipped a switch from behind the counter.

Electromagnetic locks sealed the doorway. A window sign, now illuminated in red, warned “facial recognition technology in use” and directed customers to “look up at the camera.”

On this recent weeknight, a woman who wanted cigarettes was locked out. Confused at first, she quickly realized that she needed to remove her medical mask. After her unobstructed facial image was scanned into a store computer, then screened against the company’s photo archives of previous customers convicted of store-related crimes, the doors clicked open.

Just a few miles away, across the Missouri state line in Illinois, such screening is against the law under the toughest privacy laws in the country. Private companies must obtain written consent before stockpiling facial images or any biometric identifier – fingerprints, palms, eyes and voice.