Comment by Port of Seattle

Many members of the public and various advocacy organizations have expressed concerns about the rapidly expanding use of facial recognition and other public-facing biometrics. These stakeholders have raised issues around privacy, equity, and civil liberties, as well as the potential for unregulated “mass surveillance.” To that end, Commission Motion 2019-13 explicitly prohibits – to the greatest extent permissible by state and federal law – mass surveillance using public-facing biometric technology at Port facilities. Port employees are prohibited from purchasing, using, or assisting in the use of public-facing biometric technology for mass surveillance, unless required to do so by state or federal law. To the extent permissible by state or federal law, the Port prohibits the use of public-facing biometric technology for mass surveillance by any tenant or other non-Port entity operating at Port facilities. In situations for which the Port cannot prohibit such use – such as a deployment by federal law enforcement with a court order to do so – it will share its preference that the deployment be limited in time and scope and that every effort be taken to minimize the potential impact to unrelated individuals using Port facilities.