Over the last 18 months or so, companies that utilize fingerprint scanners and other biometric technologies have faced a relentless wave of class action litigation filed in connection with purported violations of Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”).

2019 was a rough year for BIPA defendants, as courts issued a string of plaintiff favorable decisions that greatly expanded the scope of potential BIPA liability, while limiting many of the major defenses. As just one example, after several significant setbacks, Facebook agreed to pay $550 million to settle a longstanding BIPA dispute over allegations the social media giant improperly used facial recognition technology to support its photo “tagging” feature.

Originally published in the January 2021 edition of Pratt’s Privacy & Cybersecurity Law Report (Vol. 7, No. 1).