US Judge Dismisses Facial Recognition Lawsuit Against Google

Harin - Jan 01, 2019


US Judge Dismisses Facial Recognition Lawsuit Against Google

After being sued by a woman in 2016 for violating Illinois law on facial recognition, Google has been granted a dismissal of the suit by a Chicago judge.

Users of Google Photos who are worried about facial recognition feature are not going to be happy as Google has been granted a dismissal of facial recognition lawsuit by a Chicago judge, as reported by Bloomberg.

The original lawsuit accused Google of infringing with the Biometric Information Privacy Act of Illinois by collecting photos’ biometric data without users’ consent and permission. As stated by the judge, there is no concrete proof that the plaintiff had been affected by the facial recognition system.

Article 1280145 09afd97c000005dc 763 468x328

The case was filed in March 2016. In the lawsuit, a woman decided to take legal action against Google after her data was uploaded to Google Photos and scanned to make a template from her face without her knowledge and permission. Her biometric data was detected in a total number of 11 photos which were taken by a Google Photos’ user.

This lawsuit against Google is one among three cases targeting at leading tech firms which have been accused of violating the strictest biometric privacy law of the United States. And it is the first case to be dismissed.

The Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act has always been considered as a considerable obstacle for technology firms that are focusing on facial recognition plans. According to the law, companies are required to receive explicit permission before making biometric scans of people’s bodies.

For Illinois citizens, whoever feels that there is a violation of their rights can file a lawsuit. In 2015 and 2016, giant tech firms including Facebook, Snapchat, and Google all faced suits for the violation of the Illinois law.

While this lawsuit against Google was dismissed, the other lawsuits are still waiting for decisions. In April, Facebook was ruled to face a lawsuit filed by Illinois users for using its facial recognition tech photos without users’ permission and consent. The suit was based on a feature of Facebook called “Tag Suggestions” which recommended users with suggested people for photo tagging purposes.

Zdnet Facebook Photo Tag Suggestions

Comments

Sort by Newest | Popular

Next Story