We’ve previously blogged about the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) privacy multistakeholder process to address concerns associated with the emerging commercial use of facial recognition technology. Notably, last year, the self-regulatory initiative hit a stumbling block when nine consumer advocacy groups withdrew from the process due to a lack
Privacy
Proposed Amendment to Illinois Law Would Have Changed Shape of Biometric Privacy Litigation
By Jeffrey Neuburger on
Late last week, the Illinois state senate considered an amendment tacked onto to an unrelated bill that would have revised the Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act, a law that has been the subject of much debate and litigation in the past year. This amendment had the potential to drastically affect…
California Court Refuses to Dismiss Biometric Privacy Suit against Facebook
By Jeffrey Neuburger on
The District Court for the Northern District of California recently issued what could be a very significant decision on a number of important digital law issues. These include: the enforceability of “clickwrap” as compared to “web wrap” website terms of use, the enforceability of a choice-of-law provision in such terms…
User of Free App May Be “Consumer” under the Video Privacy Protection Act
By Jeffrey Neuburger on
This past week, the First Circuit issued a notable opinion concerning the contours of liability under the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) – a decision that stirs up further uncertainty as to where to draw the line regarding VPPA liability when it comes to mobile apps. (See Yershov v. Gannett …
Self-Publishing Platforms Deemed Distributors, Not Publishers in Privacy Suit over Unauthorized Book Cover
By Jeffrey Neuburger on
We live in a world that has rapidly redefined and blurred the roles of the “creator” of content, as compared to the roles of the “publisher” and “distributor” of such content. A recent case touches on some of the important legal issues associated with such change. Among other things, the…
Google Is the Latest Online Provider to Face Class Action over Collection of Faceprints
By Jeffrey Neuburger on
As we have previously written about, there are several ongoing biometric privacy-related lawsuits alleging that facial recognition-based systems of photo tagging violate the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). Add one more to the list. A Chicago resident brought a putative class action against Google for allegedly collecting, storing…
FTC Releases Big Data Report Outlining Risks, Benefits and Legal Hurdles
By Jeffrey Neuburger on
The big data revolution is quietly chugging along: devices, sensors, websites and networks are collecting and producing significant amounts of data, the cost of data storage continues to plummet, public and private sector interest in data mining is growing, data computational and statistical methods have advanced, and more and more…
Photo Storage Service’s Collection of Faceprints May Violate Illinois Biometric Privacy Statute
By Jeffrey Neuburger on
As we have previously noted, there are several ongoing privacy-related lawsuits alleging that facial recognition-based systems of photo tagging violate the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). The photo storage service Shutterfly and the social network Facebook are both defending putative class action suits that, among other things, allege…
Facebook Seeks Dismissal in Illinois Facial Recognition Biometric Privacy Suit
By Jeffrey Neuburger on
As we have previously noted, Facebook has been named as a defendant in a number of lawsuits claiming that its facial recognition-based system of photo tagging violates the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). In a separate putative class action filed in Illinois federal court that involves the tagging…
Video Privacy Protection Act Narrowed – App’s Transmission of Roku ID Not Disclosure of Personal Information
By Jeffrey Neuburger on
A New York district court opinion is the latest addition to our watch of ongoing VPPA-related disputes, a notable decision on the issue of what exactly is a disclosure of “personally identifiable information” (PII) under the VPPA. Does PII refer to information which must, without more, link an actual…