Millions of Facebook's users would now be able to
proceed as a group with claims that its, photo-scanning technology violated a
law in Illinois by collecting and storing biometric information without their
assent, a federal judge ruled on Monday. This was done just in view of the
fact, that these damages could conceivably keep running into the billions of
dollars, wasn't lost on the judge, who was unsympathetic to Facebook's arguments
for constraining its legal exposure.
The case however goes back to 2015, well before
Facebook wound up buried in discussion over disclosures that a large number of
its users' private data fell under the control of British consulting firm
Cambridge Analytica.
The social network has throughout recent years urged
users to tag people in photos they upload in their own personal posts so as to
simultaneously store the gathered information.
The social media even utilized a program called
DeepFace for that matter to coordinate different photos of a person. The two companies
have demanded in court that collecting data on what you look like isn't
illegal, even without your authorization however under the Illinois Biometric
Information Privacy Act of 2008, the companies could be fined $1,000 to $5,000
each time a person’s picture is utilized without assent.
Shawn Williams, a legal counsellor for the users,
said it's not clear yet whether the claim may provoke changes in the way
Facebook utilizes biometric information.
“As more people become aware of the scope of
Facebook’s 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,” he said.
“We continue to believe the case has no merit and
will defend ourselves vigorously,” spokeswoman Genevieve Grdina said in an
emailed statement.
U.S. District Judge James Donato wrote in the ruling
that, “the company “seems to believe”
that the decision that the lawsuit
should be pursued by individuals, not as a group, is legitimate as an individual
user could be “aggrieved” differently, and must prove that they suffered an
actual injury beyond a privacy right and all this because “damages could amount
to billions of dollars…,”
So far the courts have battled over what qualifies
as an injury to seek after a privacy case in claims blaming Facebook and Google
for siphoning users' personal information from messages, emails and checking
their web-perusing propensities.
Donato already dismissed Facebook's contention that
the case must be dismissed on the grounds that the endeavour to uphold Illinois
law crosses paths with its user agreement that expects disputes to be settled
under the laws of California, where it's based.
The case as of now is in re Facebook Biometric
Information Privacy Litigation, 15-cv-03747, U.S. District Court, Northern
District of California (San Francisco).