Senators Bernie Sanders and Jeff Merkley introduced a bill in the US Senate which prohibits private companies from collecting people’s biometrics, including facial data, eye scans, voiceprints, and fingerprints, without their consent. It also bars private entities from selling, and leasing biometric data of people. Even in terms of consent, the bill, called National Biometric Information Privacy Act of 2020, requires private companies to receive written consent from consumers and employees before collecting biometric data such as eye scans or fingerprints. In case written consent isn’t obtained from a person, they will be in a position to sue the private entity, according to the bill. “We can’t let companies scoop up or profit from people’s faces and fingerprints without their consent,” said Merkley. “We have to fight against a ‘big brother’ surveillance state that eradicates our privacy and our control of our…
