TechFreedom urges Supreme Court to hear Facebook biometric data privacy arguments

TechFreedom is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear Facebook’s appeal of the decision to certify a Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) class action suit in federal court, according to MediaPost. In an Amicus Brief, the libertarian group argues that a wave of costly ‘no harm’ class action suits will follow if the Supreme Court does not overrule lower federal court rulings that the Facebook suit can proceed.

“Controlling information relating to one’s self is something important to many individuals. The law, as academics, legal institutions, and courts acknowledge, still requires a factual showing of perceptible harm,” TechFreedom writes.

The Consumer Data Industry Association (CDIA) also recently filed an amicus curiae brief of its own, suggesting the top court should step in to resolve competing interpretations of Spokeo I, which set the precedent for requiring ‘concrete injury’ to establish legal standing in civil suits, at the circuit court level.

The Washington Legal Foundation also recently filed a petition with the court in support of Facebook. The social media giant has argued that the suit against it lacks standing in federal court, as the violations it is accused of are merely procedural, rather than meeting the ‘concrete injury’ threshold established by Spokeo.

Prison Operator Geo Group Inc., meanwhile, has been accused by a former employee of violating BIPA’s informed consent requirements for its fingerprint time and attendance system, Bloomberg Law reports.

A proposed class action has also been filed against family-owned staffing company LCV Staffing in Cook County Court, Law360 reports. A pair of former employees claim that the consent and disclosure requirements were not followed when their biometric information was collected, stored, and disseminated, and they do not know the status of their biometric data “to this day.”

Article Topics

biometric data  |  Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA)  |  biometrics  |  data protection  |  Facebook  |  facial recognition  |  legislation  |  privacy  |  United States