A BIPA motion loss for Clearview as Walmart faces complaint over alleged use

Say what you will about face-scraper Clearview AI, its owners have courtroom stamina as a defendant.

The facial recognition subscription company last week suffered a new loss in one of its Illinois Biometric Information Protection Act lawsuits it is defending against, a minor scuffle over a deadline for discovery.

Also last week, Clearview found itself tangled in another BIPA case. A resident of the U.S. state of Illinois accused Walmart of illegally surveilling him using video systems and Clearview facial recognition algorithms.

In the first case, a proposed class action (Mutnick v. Clearview, case number 1:20-cv-00512) Clearview had asked the U.S. district court for northeastern Illinois to deny the plaintiff’s request for more time for discovery and to take 10 additional depositions.

Almost three years ago, David Mutnick filed a suit in which he accused Clearview “epitomizes the insidious encroachment of an individual’s liberty.” Specifically, according to Mutnick, Clearview’s service “blatantly” violates BIPA requirements, including getting informed consent before collecting biometric information.

The judge found for the plaintiffs on the motion, saying that the case is “complex in nature.” The new deadline for both parties is November 15 to produce all documents and December 23, 2022 to complete all discovery by. Each side also can depose up to 20 parties.

The other named plaintiffs are Mario Calderon, Jennifer Rocio, Anthony Hall, Isela Carmean, Shelby Zelonis Roberson, Andrea Vestrand and Aaron Hurvitz.

More substantive is the new case against Walmart.

This proposed class action was filed by James Luthe. No case number has been assigned yet.

Walmart allegedly collects, stores and uses the face biometric data of Illinois residents in violation of BIPA. And it allegedly uses Clearview’s facial scan database, now estimated by many to be 20 million images. Clearview is not being sued in this case.

The plaintiffs are seeking statutory damages of up to $5,000 for each member of the class for each violation.

Walmart might want to get a frequent BIPA suit loyalty card. It has been found itself accused of violations multiple times. Other retailers might want to consider the same thing.

Article Topics

biometric data  |  biometrics  |  BIPA  |  Clearview AI  |  data protection  |  lawsuits  |  retail biometrics