14 DAY TRIAL // Facial recognition systems are becoming more commonplace these days, and tech giant across the world keep investing in new applications that most often need to be trained using real data.
In other words, a facial recognition system needs real people faces to get better and more accurate, and in the past, this approach has generated quite a controversy around the way various companies ended up scanning the web for public data that could be used in this regard.
This time, tech companies Microsoft, Google, and Amazon are being sued by two Illinois residents who claim that their faces were used for training facial recognition systems without their consent.
Steven Vance and Tim Janecyk say their faces and photos were included in the IBM “Diversity in Faces” database, which was then used by the said tech firms for their own applications.
Companies tight-lipped on the claims
The two plaintiffs, who are hoping to obtain class action status, explain that this approach violates the Biometric Information Privacy Act, or BIPA, an Illinois law that passed more than ten years ago specifically to protect state residents against the unauthorized use of their biometric data.
“Defendant Microsoft never advised or informed Plaintiff Vance or his legal authorized representative in writing: (a) that it collected, stored and used Plaintiff Vance’s biometric identifiers and information; or (b) of the specific purpose and length of term for which Plaintiff Vance’s biometric identifiers and information were being collected, stored and used,” the lawsuit against Microsoft reads.
“Defendant Microsoft violated BIPA by collecting and obtaining individuals’ biometric identifiers and information, including the biometric identifiers and information of Plaintiffs and Class Members, without providing the requisite written information and without obtaining the requisite written releases.”
Microsoft is the only companies that commented on the lawsuit, saying that it's looking into the claims and it's "taking privacy seriously."
The plaintiffs are now seeking at least $5,000 per violation of the law.