Law enforcement’s unmonitored use of facial recognition technology has come under increasing scrutiny in the past few months. Bernie Sanders has echoed San Francisco and called for a complete ban on the police use of the technology, while Microsoft recently stated that it will refuse to sell its facial recognition tech for mass surveillance. With…
Vimeo is the latest tech company to get hit with a BIPA lawsuit in Illinois. The lawsuit specifically concerns the video editing app Magisto, which Vimeo acquired earlier this year. Filed in Cook County by Bradley Acaley, the lawsuit alleges that Magisto does not obtain sufficient consent for its use of facial recognition data. The…
City officials in Detroit have come to a compromise on police use of facial recognition technology, with an oversight committee clearing it for criminal investigations but banning the technology’s use in live surveillance. Police in Detroit had first started using facial recognition software in 2017, with Detroit City Council having approved its purchase. But as…
Another business may have run afoul of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). Kevin Truss has filed a class action lawsuit against Four Seasons Heating & Air Conditioning Inc., alleging that the Chicago-based company violated the law when it forced him to scan his biometric information in order to clock in and out for…
“It’s worth noting that this latest state legislation is concerned specifically with the use of facial recognition technology through police-worn body cameras…” California’s State Assembly has approved a moratorium on the use of facial recognition technology through police body cameras. The legislation originated earlier this year as an outright ban, and was passed in the…
One of the world’s biggest insurers is warning about the risks of biometric privacy legislation. The warning comes by way of Chubb’s latest Cyber InFocus report, with Illinois’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (or “BIPA”) being singled out as one of two salient digital issues in the insurance industry right now. (The other, ‘iEncrypt’, is a…
Two more companies are being taken to court for alleged violations of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). The Cook County Record reports that David Kirby and Araceli Refugio Huerta have respectively filed class action complaints against Gurtler Chemicals and Burger King for requiring employees to scan their biometric information when clocking in for…
A seemingly innocuous test of a biometric attendance tracking system has resulted in Sweden’s first GDPR fine. The fine of 200,000 Swedish Krona was applied by the Swedish Data Protection Authority, or DPA, to the municipality of Skellefteå after it had trialed an attendance tracking system based on facial recognition technology at the Anderstorp High…
“Police use of facial recognition software is the latest example of Orwellian technology that violates our privacy and civil liberties under the guise of public safety and it must stop.” Bernie Sanders has made facial recognition an important component of his campaign platform, calling for a complete ban on the police use of the technology.…
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has weighed in on the recent Appellate Court ruling that cleared the way for a class action lawsuit against Facebook. The lawsuit alleges that Facebook gathered biometric information from users without achieving proper consent. The facts of the case haven’t changed since earlier reports, but the EFF’s breakdown does help explain…
The US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has cleared the way for a class action lawsuit against Facebook, ruling that “Facebook users located in Illinois for whom Facebook created and stored a face template after June 7, 2011,” are indeed a certified class entitled to legal representation. The ruling reaffirms the initial decision of Northern…
“It’s aimed primarily at protecting tenants’ privacy, and defending them against potential over-policing.” A trio of Congresswomen have announced a new piece of legislation aimed at banning the use of biometric recognition in most public and assisted housing units funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Billed “The No Biometric Barriers Housing Act…
This week could see the further development of a small but growing trend toward banning the government’s use of facial recognition technology, with the Oakland City Council set to discuss a proposed ban in a meeting scheduled for Tuesday. Introduced earlier this year, the proposed ban would only apply to the municipal government, prohibiting it…
“By protecting the use of Aadhaar authentication on a voluntary basis, the central government is seeking to ensure that Aadhaar can still be used for private sector services.” India’s Parliament has passed legislation allowing citizens to voluntarily use Aadhaar as identification when opening new banking or mobile accounts. The bill, called “The Aadhaar and Other…
The Illinois House of Representatives has passed legislation that would require a fingerprint check for anyone looking to obtain a Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) card or a concealed carry license in the state. The fingerprints would be matched against Illinois police and FBI databases, offering better background checks and making it more difficult for people…
The Biometrics Institute is asking law enforcement, border control, and other government agencies to exhibit good behavior when deploying biometric technology, warning that it may be regulated for them if they use it irresponsibly and go on to lose public trust. “It is vital that anyone using biometrics to identify individuals follows responsible and ethical…
Apple’s introduction of the face-scanning Face ID system in 2017’s iPhone X went a long way in helping to make facial recognition for authentication a mainstream technology among consumers. But it was Amazon that really made facial recognition for large-scale public identification explode into the national discourse as an ethical issue, after an ACLU report…
“The IBIA is not alone in taking issue with the ban; after the legislation passed its Board vote, an advocacy group called Stop Crime SF issued a statement insisting that the ban could have been a moratorium, since facial recognition technology shows considerable potential as a crime-fighting tool. “ The International Biometrics + Identity Association…
City officials in San Francisco have approved a proposed ban on the city’s use of facial recognition, clearing the way for it to become law. First proposed at the end of January, the legislation is designed to prohibit the use of facial recognition-based surveillance technology by city departments, and requires them to seek approval from…