Rejecting BIPA settlement with Google, some plaintiffs regroup for new suit

Some plaintiffs who balked at the payout they would have received last year after winning a biometric privacy class action settlement against Google are circling back for a better result.

Sixty plaintiffs were disappointed when they learned that they would net $95 each for settling their suit charging Google with violating the U.S. state of Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act.

BIPA requires companies wanting to collect the biometric identifiers of state residents to get their written consent first and inform them how the data will be managed, among other steps.

The plaintiffs accuse Google of breaking the law in programming its Photos app to scan faces in uploaded images without consideration of what their customers wanted, according to the Cook County (Ill.) Record.

A settlement was announced in 2022. A $100 million fund would be created by Google, resulting in the $95 payout for each plaintiff in the class action.

According to the Record, the deal was finalized last summer prompting 60 plaintiffs to withdraw from the agreement and prepare a new attack. Had they accepted the deal, they would have been prevented from seeking another lawsuit in the matter with Google.

They feel they should get $1,000 to $5,000 for each time a face image was scanned by the company.

It is not clear when attorneys for the balking plaintiffs will take the next step.

Revolut sued

Another lawsuit over the use of face biometrics in alleged violation of BIPA has been filed, against UK-based fintech Revolut, reports Cook County Record separately.

Revolut uses face biometrics from Onfido to perform KYC checks during customer onboarding, and plaintiff Tina Haralampopoulos alleges it does not provide the requisite information or collect written consent. She also alleges the company violates BIPA rules for disclosing partners and how biometric data is collected, stored and deleted.

Because Revolut United States is registered in Delaware and headquartered in New York City, with no offices in Illinois, plaintiffs in the potential class action may struggle to prove it falls under the state’s jurisdiction.

Article Topics

biometric identifiers  |  Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA)  |  biometrics  |  data protection  |  face biometrics  |  Google  |  Revolut