Logic and Reason Prevail: FaceTec’s BIPA Case Formally Dismissed Without Hearing

“FaceTec has created the most privacy-conscious identity verification architecture on the market because FaceTec software is designed so customer’s collect and process PII from their own end-users.” – Terry Coffing, Chief Legal Officer, FaceTec

A lawsuit filed against FaceTec under Illinois’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) has been formally dismissed without a hearing, at the direction of the plaintiff, McGuire Law, PC.

The lawsuit revolved around the use of FaceTec’s biometric technology for remotely verifying the identities of end users. Like so many others, FaceTec had been accused under BIPA of failing to obtain explicit, written consent for its collection of biometric data, as required under the Act.

The thing is, FaceTec’s privacy-by-design architecture means that the company itself never actually collects end users’ biometric data. FaceTec clients install and manage the company’s solutions within their own digital infrastructure, with no need to transmit biometrics or any other sensitive personal data to FaceTec in order to process identity verification activities.

FaceTec’s legal team made this clear to the lawyers brining the case. As the company’s Chief Legal Officer, Terry Coffing, explains, “Plaintiff’s counsel, McGuire Law, PC, reviewed that architecture and voluntarily dismissed the case consistent with their ethical obligations and the facts.”

Coffing added that the turn of events demonstrates that even in “a patchwork of increasingly difficult-to-navigate biometric privacy frameworks, straightforward, two-party, privacy-focused biometric architectures are a win for both the end-users and organizations.”

FaceTec’s legal victory echoes a similar win by Apple against a BIPA challenge toward the end of last year. That case revolved around the biometric authentication systems found on Apple devices, with an Illinois First District Appellate Court ultimately ruling that Apple wasn’t in violation of the privacy law in part because end users’ data isn’t actually sent to the company – rather, it’s stored on local devices.

FaceTec emphasized the importance of its focus on privacy-first architecture in its update for the fourth quarter of 2022, which once again showed significant growth in revenues for the firm. That trend continued in its most recent corporate update, which showed a 72 percent year-over-year revenue uptick in Q1 of 2023, and a whopping 120 percent surge in the use of its 3D Liveness Check system.

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May 18, 2023 – by Alex Perala