Facial Recognition Software Is Everywhere, With Few Legal Limits

A proposal to ban New York City businesses from using facial recognition software to identify customers marks an outlier in the so-far-tepid US policy response to the fast-moving technology.

People’s faces are increasingly becoming an access key, whether to unlock a mobile phone, pass through airport security, or enter an office building. But privacy and civil liberties advocates are worried about over-monitoring and bias in who gets recognized or tracked because few federal, state, or local rules have curbed the technology’s reach.

If enacted, New York City’s ban would be only the nation’s second in effect today, and the first ...