New York Passed a Facial Recognition “Study.” Here’s Why It Matters.

New York City skyline and buildings seen from above — Photo via Unsplash

TL;DR: The New York State Senate passed S3699 on April 15, creating a six-member task force to study how the state should regulate facial recognition technology. The bill’s sponsor, Senator James Sanders Jr. (D-Queens), says it’s a “thoughtful, informed approach.” Privacy groups want an outright ban. But here’s the thing: New York’s school facial recognition moratorium started as a study. So did the city’s biometric privacy rules. Study commissions in Albany aren’t where policy goes to die. They’re where it gets its first legal foundation. With at least seven documented wrongful arrests from NYPD facial recognition and multiple NYC ban bills moving through the City Council, this task force will have plenty to study.

What the Senate Actually Passed

S3699 does one thing: it creates a task force. Six people. Two appointed by the governor, two by the Senate president, two by the Assembly speaker. Their job: spend a year studying facial recognition technology in New York and deliver recommendations to the governor and legislature ^[1].

The task force has to examine:

Privacy risks to individuals and the public
What other states, cities, and countries have done
How the technology can be “misused or abused”
The best ways to regulate it going forward

That’s it. No moratorium. No restrictions. No warrant requirements. Just six appointees and a deadline.

Senator Sanders framed it carefully: “Facial recognition technology is advancing rapidly and is already being used in ways that affect everyday New Yorkers. While this technology offers many benefits (from enhancing security to improving efficiency) it also raises serious concerns about privacy, surveillance, and potential misuse” ^[1].

Read that again. He’s a Democrat from Queens and he led with “benefits.” That tells you something about how carefully this bill was calibrated to pass.

Why “Just a Study” Isn’t Just a Study

Privacy groups are already dismissing S3699 as a stalling tactic. They shouldn’t.

New York’s school facial recognition ban started exactly like this. In 2020, the Lockport City School District installed facial recognition cameras pointed at kids. The NYCLU sued. Governor Cuomo signed a moratorium. The Office of Information Technology Services studied the issue. Their conclusion: the “risks of the use of facial recognition technology in an educational setting may outweigh the benefits.” The moratorium became a permanent ban in 2023 ^[2].

Study commission. Report. Finding of harm. Ban.

That’s not a death sentence for regulation. It’s a birth certificate.

Here’s what a task force report does that a floor speech doesn’t: it creates an official government record of specific harms. Legislators can cite it. Courts can reference it. Governors can point to it when signing restrictions. It converts anecdotes into findings, and findings into legal authority.

The task force also has to study what other jurisdictions have done. That means they’ll be reviewing San Francisco’s ban, Connecticut’s retail ban, Virginia’s new law, and the at least 14 wrongful arrests nationwide. All of that goes into the official legislative record.

Seven Wrongful Arrests and Counting

The task force won’t have to look far for evidence of harm.

In April 2025, the NYPD arrested Trevis Williams, a 36-year-old Brooklyn man, for indecent exposure in Manhattan. Facial recognition said he was the guy. One problem: the suspect was 5’6” and 70 pounds lighter. Williams is 6’2”. His cell phone records showed he was driving from Connecticut to Brooklyn (12 miles away) when the crime happened ^[3].

Williams spent two days in jail. He was in the process of becoming a correctional officer at Rikers Island. The hiring process froze after his arrest ^[4].

The Legal Aid Society says the Williams case was the seventh wrongful arrest they’ve documented from NYPD facial recognition in five years ^[3]. In August 2025, they sent a letter to the NYPD Inspector General demanding an investigation, alleging the department was using facial matches from unauthorized databases, including running searches through other city agencies like the FDNY to circumvent its own policies ^[5].

The NYPD’s official policy, updated February 4, 2026, says it doesn’t use facial recognition to “monitor and identify people in crowds or political rallies” ^[6]. It says access is limited to personnel with an “articulable need.” But policies and practice aren’t the same thing, and the Legal Aid Society says the gap is wide enough to wrongfully arrest seven people through.

The Groups That Want More Than a Study

While Albany studies, New York City is trying to act.

The “Ban the Scan” coalition, led by the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P.), Amnesty International, and the EFF, is pushing four bills for a total statewide ban on facial recognition by law enforcement, landlords, businesses, and schools ^[7]. The NYCLU, the Immigrant Defense Project, and AI for the People are backing the campaign.

At the city level, two bills are moving through the Council:

Int 0213-2026 (Council Member Shahana Hanif): Bans businesses and public accommodations from using facial recognition in surveillance cameras. Creates a private right of action, meaning you can sue ^[8]
Int 0428-2026 (Council Member Pierina Sanchez): Bans landlords from installing facial recognition or biometric entry systems in residential buildings ^[9]

Both bills are in committee. Neither has passed yet. But they represent the other path: the one that skips the study and goes straight to the ban.

S.T.O.P. executive director Albert Fox Cahn has been clear about the coalition’s position: facial recognition technologies are “unjust, discriminatory, and a threat to privacy,” and they disproportionately harm BIPOC, Muslim, immigrant, and LGBTQ+ communities ^[7].

Where New York Fits in the National Map

S3699 drops into a crowded field. At least 20 states have some form of privacy law on the books. Several are directly targeting facial recognition:

Virginia: Facial recognition law takes effect July 1, 2026. The state also just banned geolocation data sales
Connecticut: Banned retail facial recognition
San Francisco: First city to ban government use of facial recognition (2019)
Portland, OR: Banned both government and private-sector facial recognition
Illinois: BIPA (Biometric Information Privacy Act) has generated billions in settlements and set the national standard for biometric consent

New York is the third-largest state by population. If its task force recommends restrictions (and they’d have to ignore a mountain of evidence not to) it would create momentum that smaller states would follow.

The companion bill, A8788, still needs to pass the Assembly. Then Governor Hochul has to sign it. Given that she signed the school facial recognition ban and the Community Commission on Reparations Remedies (which Sanders also spearheaded), she’s likely to sign a study commission too. The political risk is zero. The upside is looking responsive to a real problem.

A Warning From the School Ban

One more thing the task force should study: what happens after you pass a rule.

New York banned facial recognition in schools in 2023. The NYCLU reported in 2025 that the Smart Schools Review Board approved at least sixteen grant proposals for camera and analytics products from vendors like Avigilon, despite the ban being in effect ^[2]. The technology got funded anyway. Nobody enforced the rule.

That’s the gap between passing legislation and making it stick. If S3699 leads to restrictions, enforcement will matter more than the text. Ask any of the seven people the NYPD wrongfully arrested whether having a policy on paper was enough.

What New Yorkers Can Do

Push for strong task force appointments: The six seats matter more than the bill text. If the governor stacks it with law enforcement and tech industry reps, the recommendations will be weak. Contact your state senator and assembly member and demand civil liberties and community representation on the task force
Support the NYC ban bills: The city-level bans (Int 0213 and Int 0428) would protect New Yorkers faster than a state study. Contact your City Council member. The Ban the Scan coalition has templates and scripts
Know your rights: If you’re arrested and suspect facial recognition was involved, ask your defense attorney to demand disclosure. The Legal Aid Society has been fighting for transparency in facial recognition cases
Follow the money: Watch for NYPD and state agency facial recognition contracts. FOIL requests (New York’s version of FOIA) can reveal what technology is being purchased and from whom

References

Published: April 18, 2026