Illinois bill aims at eliminating BIPA (Biometric Information Privacy Act)’s private right of action

On February 25, 2019, an Illinois Senator introduced SB2134 to amend the Biometric Information Privacy Act (740 ILCS 14/1 et seq., BIPA) creating a  private right of action. The bill is currently in Committee. The majority of BIPA claims have been brought against businesses as class actions seeking statutory damages.   Synopsis Amends the Biometric […]

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Bipartisan Bill to extend European citizens certain rights that Americans have under the Privacy Act of 1974

Last week a bipartisan bill (Judicial Redress Act of 2015) was introduced by Senators Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). The proposal echoes a  similar proposal in the House presented in March from Congressmen Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) and John Conyers (D-Mich.) (here), which received also the support of the major tech companies of the United […]

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Illinois District court finds that improper collection and retention of face-scan measurements doesn’t constituted an injury-in-fact sufficient to meet Article III standing requirements

    On December 28, 2018, Google won summary judgment in a class action alleging that the company handles images in violation of the Illinois 2008 Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). According to the District Court, “plaintiffs have not suffered an injury sufficient to establish Article III standing and their claims are dismissed.” In a (putative) class […]

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Class action against Facebook’s processing of personal biometric data continues

Updated on October 18th, 2019: On August 8, 2019, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that the plaintiffs have constitutional standing to sue Facebook for violating statutory privacy rights under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act of 2008. Facebook had filed a motion to dismiss arguing that plaintiffs lacked standing […]

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SCOTUS heard oral argument in Carpenter vs US: can the Gov’t access carriers’ location data without a warrant?

On November 29, 2017, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in an important privacy case. The Sixth Circuit held that the protection granted under the Fourth Amendment did not prevent the government to access business records from the defendants’ wireless carriers revealing the user’s location without a warrant. In Carpenter v. United States Timothy Carpenter and Timothy Sanders […]

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Illinois federal court finds face-scan measurements derived from a photo qualify as biometric identifiers

On February 27, 2017, an Illinois federal court denied Google’s motion to dismiss a claim alleging that Google handles images in violation of the Illinois 2008 Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). In a (putative) class action against Google Photos, plaintiffs alleged that the service collects, stores and uses- without informed consent and in violation of BIPA – the […]

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Privacy issues in biometrics

Commercial use of biometric data has dramatically increased in recent years: some software are now able to recognize physical characteristics, such as fingerprints, retinas, hand and facial geometry, as well as voices. This technology makes people’s life easier as their hand or voice may be enough to access their phone or bank account, and one single click […]

Privacy issues in biometrics

Commercial use of biometric data increased dramatically in recent years: some software are now able to recognize physical characteristics, such as fingerprints, retinas, hand and facial geometry, as well as voices. This technology makes people’s life easier as their hand or voice may be enough to access their phone or bank account, and one single click may […]

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Judicial Redress Act signed into law by President Obama

On February 24, 2016, President Barack Obama signed the Judicial Redress Act into law, so granting the citizens of certain allied countries the same protection of US citizens under the Privacy Act. The full title of the Bill is: “To extend Privacy Act remedies to citizens of certified states, and for other purposes.” The President […]

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