BIPA suit brought against Home Depot for loss prevention biometrics

Home Depot is the latest company to be hit by a potential class action suit for alleged unlawful biometrics use under Illinois’ BIPA, but this suit differs from most others in that it is brought by shoppers who claim the retail chain’s security cameras collected their biometric data without following the required procedures, ClassAction.org reports.

Most BIPA suits are related not just to employee time and attendance systems, but specifically to violations of the informed consent statutes of BIPA with such systems.

The suit against Home Depot was filed in Georgia, and alleges the retailer’s security system collects biometric ‘faceprints’ from customers on each visit, enabling the company to track them as they move through the store.

“Defendants begin tracking customers as soon as they enter Home Depot stores,” according to the complaint. “Home Depot’s security cameras and its checkout cameras operate on a connected system, with facial-recognition technology running on the footage obtained. As the customer walks through the store and makes their way toward checkout, the facial recognition software tracks their every movement, through and beyond their purchase.”

The lawsuit alleges facial recognition is used as part of a loss prevention system at all 76 Home Depot locations in the Prairie State. Plaintiffs allege that Home Depot did not inform them of their biometric data being collected or processed, did not obtain consent to do so, and did not post a retention schedule for the data.

For these alleged infractions, the plaintiffs are seeking damages of up to $5,000 per store visit.

Article Topics

Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA)  |  biometrics  |  data collection  |  data protection  |  facial recognition  |  privacy  |  surveillance