WASHINGTON STATE

Washington State House Democrats

HOUSE DEMOCRATS

Rep. Morris introduces bills to protect citizens from drone surveillance, consumer biometric data collection

OLYMPIA – Today the House Technology and Economic Development Committee held public hearings on two proposed bills from Rep. Jeff Morris (D-Mount Vernon) to strengthen privacy laws regarding new and emerging technologies.

House Bills 1093 and 1094 would limit the collection of Washingtonians’ personal data by use of unmanned aircraft (drones) and various emerging biometric data collection tools.

As drones become more commonly owned by companies and everyday citizens, state lawmakers are looking at ways to protect citizens from privacy violations. Morris’ proposed legislation (HB 1093) would prohibit drones with active sensing devices from collecting personal information — including images of an individual on private property — without the individual’s consent, unless the federal government has provided specific authorization or the drone is clearly labelled with the name and contact information of the owner.

“As drones become more popular with hobbyists, we need to protect citizens from the collection of private information without their consent,” Morris said. “Just as you can’t hop the fence onto your neighbor’s private property and take photos of them in their bathroom, you shouldn’t be able to fly your drone in front of their window and do the same.”

Technology allowing companies to collect biometric data is not limited to science fiction — iris scans, facial recognition and voice recognition technologies already exist, but have yet to be largely used in the commercial and retail industries. Morris’ proposed HB 1094 would establish regulations and limitations on how this information could be collected and used in the future.

Under this legislation, the collection of biometric identifiers of an individual for a commercial purpose without consent would be prohibited. After gaining consent from the consumer, the collector could not sell, lease or disclose the data without receiving additional consent. There would be an exemption for sharing biometric data with law enforcement under warrant.

“This bill would establish some rules of deployment before we get into the usual cat-and-mouse game we often experience with new technologies,” Morris said. “This gives consumers control over their most personally identifiable information. In a way, we are trying to create a sense of copyright ownership over your own face.”

The bill would protect commercial collection of biological identifiers such as fingerprints, DNA, hand geometry, palm prints, iris scans, and facial imaging, and behavioral identifiers like voice and gait recognition.