The first tangible legal outcome from the state of Illinois’ biometric data legislation has emerged, reports Big Law Business.
It’s the same legislation that has ensnared tech giants like Facebook and Google for their use of biometric identification technologies. The law requires that companies get consent from individuals before ascertaining their biometric data, and compels them to lay out how that data will be managed.
The first settlement to come out of that law is one of lower stakes, involving a tanning salon that used fingerprint scanning to authenticate members. L.A. Tan has now reached a $1.5 million settlement in a class action lawsuit. The issue wasn’t about the company’s collection or use of the data, but its failure to properly acquire written consent from customers and to clearly communicate how the data would be used.
It’s one of the first illustrations of how the rapid proliferation of biometric data could lead to legal issues for companies that aren’t careful in how the deploy such technology – a caution for businesses in Illinois for now, and perhaps more broadly in the future.
Source: Big Law Business
–
December 5, 2016 – by Alex Perala
Follow Us