Washington State May OK Fingerprint Scans to Buy Alcohol, Cannabis

The Washington State Legislature is considering give the State Liquor and Cannabis Board rulemaking authority over the use of  biometric age verification by private entities to buy alcohol or cannabis.

Biometric age verification is a process by which a person’s identity is confirmed online or in-person through fingerprints or facial analysis. Its use is currently permissible in Washington and is used by various companies including Amazon One and CLEAR, which allows airport passengers to use scans of their eyes or fingerprints to skip government security lines once they’ve signed up with a government ID or passport.

However, the proposed rule would still require the use of a government ID, such as a driver's license.