Biometric data privacy complaint against Clearview proceeds after motions rejected

A California court has denied an anti-SLAPP motion and a separate motion by Clearview AI to dismiss a biometric data privacy lawsuit against the company.

Judge Evelio Grillo said in the ruling that First Amendment rights do not include taking a photo or likeness of a person to use it for business purposes, according to an announcement from BraunHagey & Borden LLP, which represents the plaintiffs.

SLAPP stands for strategic lawsuit against public participation, and refers to frivolous lawsuits intended to intimidate and impose costs on defendants.

The plaintiffs argue that Clearview violated the terms of service of the online platforms it collected data from. The data is used for biometric algorithm training, and to build a database for law enforcement searches.

Renderos et al v. Clearview AI, Inc. et al is being heard in Alameda Superior Court.

“Allowing Clearview to continue building its illicit surveillance database would be the end of privacy as we know it,” states plaintiffs’ counsel Ellen Leonida of BraunHagey & Borden.

“While we are pleased that the trial court agreed that the collection of public data is lawful under California law, we believe other aspects of this ruling are inconsistent with California law and the First Amendment and intend to appeal those rulings,” comments Senior Counsel at Cahill Gordon & Reindel Floyd Abrams, who represents Clearview AI.

The company’s technique for building biometric training datasets was recently patented with the USPTO.

Article Topics

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