Three Illinois law firms have reached a record-breaking settlement with Facebook in a class-action lawsuit that concerns the tech giant’s alleged violations of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). According to the terms of the settlement, Facebook must set aside a $550 million cash fund for the plaintiffs, whose facial biometrics were scanned without…
“BIPA has netted a growing number of these kinds of lawsuits in recent years, based on the simple legal premise that informed consent must be obtained from an individual before their biometric data is collected.” Surprising no one, Clearview AI – the controversial firm that has been quietly selling facial recognition technology to police –…
Sterling has released a new report that examines the gig economy within the context of identity fraud and broader hiring trends. The White Paper was published in collaboration with HR.com’s Research Institute, and was based on a survey of 300 HR professionals from large and small organizations alike. The least surprising finding in the study…
This week’s roundup of FindBiometrics’ most popular articles finds one standout topic in the form of a company: Aware, Inc. Aware is, of course, a leading provider of biometric authentication solutions, including its mobile-focused Knomi SDK package. The company has lately seen some important changes to its executive team, including the appointment of a new…
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the subject of a lawsuit for violating the Illinois Biometric Privacy Act (BIPA). This is the latest in a string of BIPA violation suits filed against major corporations in the state of Illinois, where the act aims to protect individuals from having their biometric data recorded, stored, or used without…
Juul Labs has become the latest company to get hit with an Illinois class action lawsuit for gathering biometric information without proper consent. The e-cigarette manufacturer uses biometrics to verify the ages of customers on its website, and while the information does allow Juul to confirm that online shoppers are legally old enough to purchase…
A lawsuit has been filed in Illinois against WeWork, global real-estate company and provider of shared office space, alleging the use of facial recognition scans without consent. The plaintiff in the case, Elliot Osborne, alleges that “When individuals arrive at a WeWork office space, each Defendant requires them to have their facial geometry scanned to…
A lawsuit that was filed by an employee against soft drink maker Keurig Dr. Pepper Inc. in Illinois that claims the company violated the state’s biometric privacy laws has been moved to a federal court at the request of the defendant. The plaintiff for the case — Gio Villanueva, an employee of Dr. Pepper in…
All eyes are on Las Vegas this week as the biometrics and identity industries converge on Money20/20 USA, the world’s premier financial services and FinTech conference. The financial vertical has long been the front line for the rapid evolution of biometrics, and every year Money20/20 serves as the gathering place where identity industry professionals show…
This week’s roundup of FindBiometrics’ most popular articles once again offers a varied assortment of topics, sectors, and technologies. First up is IDEX Biometrics’ news that it is preparing to fulfill a multi-year, multimillion-dollar order of its dual-interface fingerprint sensor technology. The company has been strongly focused on the emerging area of biometric payment cards…
Biometrics News – Facial Recognition A pair of class action lawsuits have recently been filed in Illinois against Rivers Casino in De Plaines and retail giant Wallgreens, with plaintiffs claiming state laws were broken when their facial biometric geometry was recorded without their consent. The lawsuits claim that plaintiffs’ rights were violated under the Illinois…
Biometrics News – Fingerprint Recognition The declining tanning industry is heating up after making the decision to run cold. An increasing number of salons are now offering Whole Body Cryotherapy, which has already boosted revenue by as much as 40 percent. Cryotherapy is often pitched as a self-care and treatment option for athletes, bodybuilders, and…
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…
Biometric Signature ID (BSI) has some advice for companies that are looking to implement a biometric security solution. In a post on the company’s blog, BSI Founder and CEO Jeff Maynard argues that behavioral biometrics are a safer and more reliable option than static modalities like fingerprint recognition. Much of that has to do with…
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…
The ongoing controversy about the public use of facial recognition technology may have given Facebook a little chill in recent months, with the company recently announcing changes in how it uses facial recognition technology on its social media platform. Essentially, the changes are about turning Facebook’s use of facial recognition into an ‘opt-in’, rather than…
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…
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…