Biometric Data: Watching the Watchers

As Illinois and other jurisdictions seek limitations, those limits get tested.

In 2008, the Illinois legislature passed the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). The Act requires entities to develop written policies, made available to the public, which establish a retention schedule and guidelines for permanently destroying identifiers. Private entities that collect, capture, purchase, receive or otherwise obtain a biometric identifier or information must inform the subject in writing, inform the subject of the purpose and length of time the data will be stored, and receive a written release. As of 2018, there were in excess of twenty-five actions filed in Cook County Circuit Court (Illinois) with other litigation pending in federal courts in Illinois, California and one case on remand from the Second Circuit, where Plaintiffs have alleged violations of BIPA.

See link to discussion of these cases and status of challenges to use of biometric data in commercial settings.

-Biometric Data: Watching the Watchers