FTC to publish compliance report on biometric privacy settlement with Paravision

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has said it will publish a report on Paravision’s compliance with the conditions of its settlement over a long-standing biometric data privacy allegation.

Paravision, in its previous incarnation as Everalbum, was ruled by the FTC to have illegally obtained data it used to train face biometric algorithms, and ordered to delete the training data and algorithms, which the company said it had already done. The FTC also accuses Ever of misleading its customers about the biometric data.

The FTC voted to finalize the deal by a 4 to 0 margin, having received two comments on the proposed settlement.

One of those came from the World Privacy Forum, which lauded the Commission for reaching one of the first facial recognition settlements to require the deletion of biometric data collected without consent.

“Your comment requests that the Commission make Everalbum’s compliance report public proactively rather than requiring members of the public to file Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) requests to obtain it,” the FTC wrote to the WPF. Based on that comment and the recognition of substantial public interest in the case, the Commission has committed to publicly publish the report, with only redactions as necessary to protect trade secrets or confidential information.

The Commission’s decision advances the biometric transparency and privacy protections for U.S. consumers, according to the WPF.

Article Topics

biometric data  |  biometrics  |  data protection  |  facial recognition  |  FTC  |  Paravision  |  privacy  |  World Privacy Forum