Facebook to face class action suit over its facial recognition tool
Facebookย must face a class action lawsuit over its unlawful use of facial recognition technology on photos without user permission, a U.S. federal judge in California ruled on Monday.
According to the lawsuit, Facebook violated an Illinois state lawย by incorrectly using photo-scanning and face recognition technologies on usersโ uploaded photographs and gathered biometric information without their explicit consent.
The case dates back to 2015, where three Illinois residents, Nimesh Patel, Adam Pezen, and Carlo Licata had sued Facebook for violating a state privacy law on protecting biometric privacy.
U.S. Judge James Donato in hisย ruling on Monday said the claims by the three plaintiffs were โsufficiently cohesive to allow for a fair and efficient resolution on a class basis.
The judge also noted that there is enough proof to show that Facebook violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), passed in 2008, which prevents companies from collecting and storing the biometric data of people without their consent.
Under the Illinois Act, Facebook can be fined $1,000 to $5,000 each time the company’s โTag Suggestionsโ feature was used on a personโs image without permission. Tag Suggestions is a feature that recommends people to tag after aย Facebookย user uploads a photo.
โConsequently, the case will proceed with a class consisting of Facebook users located in Illinois for whom Facebook created and stored a face template after June 7, 2011,โ he said, according to the ruling.
However, according to Facebook, the photo tagging tool provides the option to users to turn the feature off and prevent themselves from being suggested in photo tags, which the company says is available since its inception.
Shawn Williams, the plaintiffsโ attorney, said itโs unclear as of now if the lawsuit might prompt changes in the way Facebook uses biometric data.
โAs more people become aware of the scope of Facebookโs data collection and as consequences begin to attach to that data collection, whether economic or regulatory, Facebook will have to take a long look at its privacy practices and make changes consistent with user expectations and regulatory requirements,โย said Williams.
A Facebook spokeswoman said the company was reviewing Mondayโs ruling that certifies the class action. โWe continue to believe the case has no merit and will defend ourselves vigorously,โ she said.
Mondayโs ruling is certainly not good news for Facebook, as the Silicon Valley giant is currently caught in a privacy scandal over the mishandling of 87 million usersโ personal data and sharing with a third party.
Source: Bloomberg