Major Corporations under scrutiny for stealing customers’ data without consent

In November 2024, a federal judge denied Target’s request to dismiss a lawsuit after the plaintiffs accused Target Corporation of collecting their shoppers’ biometric data without their consent or knowledge, which can violate the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). BIPA was passed in Illinois and allows individuals to control their own biometric data and prohibits private companies from collecting their data unless the individuals are informed that their data is collected. [1] Four Illinois women who shopped at Target filed a class action lawsuit claiming Target installed cameras to monitor stores for shoplifting and used facial recognition software to track people who enter their premises. Target claimed that the lawsuit is absurd as the plaintiffs’ claims were not based on any factual evidence rather on news reports such as a 2018 CBS Evening Story on Target’s National Investigation Center. [2] District Judge Jeremy Daneil claimed in November 2024 that the allegations are valid and the plaintiffs have a legitimate reason regarding possible BIPA violations by Target. Target has until December 13th to answer to the complaint. [3] Target is not the only big corporation that has faced lawsuits and scrutiny over collecting their own customers’ data. Amazon and Google were also sued for biometric privacy concerns, and the question remains are these corporations ethically collecting their customers’ data. [4]

Last year in March 2023, Amazon faced a class-action lawsuit that accused them of failing to inform New York customers of collecting biometric information in their Amazon Go stores using palm scans and cameras that tracked customers’ movements. [id] Alfredo Rodriguez filed a case in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in lawsuit of Alfredo Rodriguez Perez on Behalf of Himself and All Others Similarly Situated v. Amazon INC, No.23-cv-2251 (2023) claiming that Amazon violated the City of New York Law, N.Y.C. Admin. Code § 22-1201 et seq or known as “The Biometric Identifier Information Law” which requires commercial establishments to notify customers if they collect or share any of their customers’ data, such as their fingerprints, handprints, or any body characteristics. [5] Amazon claimed they use biometric data in their Amazon “Palm-based Identify” payment system and that facial recognition technology is not used in any of its stores. [id] Shortly after the lawsuit was filed Amazon started to post signage outside of their stores clarifying how customers’ biometric information was collected. However, Mr. Rodriguez claims that it violates The Biometric Identifier Information Law, Mr. Rodriguez wants Amazon to comply with the law and pay damages to those impacted by Amazon’s practices. 

Technology has grown rapidly in recent years and major corporations want to implement these technologies to track and store their customers’ data, to target them with ads or assist them with shopping. This can lead to a boost of profits for these big corporations. While these corporations boast about these technologies, it is disliked by some who do not want major corporations following them around. This can be exemplified through the Texas Attorney General suing Google for capturing biometric data from its users without their knowledge or permission.

In the case of The State of Texas v. Google LLC (2022), Attorney General Paxton sued Google, alleging that the massive technology giant was unlawfully capturing and using biometric data of millions of Texans without their proper consent. [6] Google claimed that their services, like Google Photos, Google Assistant, and Nest Hub Max were not taking customers’ information illegally and that they would fight the record in court. [7] Then, in 2022, the state of Texas, alongside a group of 40 states, secured a $390 million settlement, a major win for plaintiffs.

These three massive cases that involve Target, Amazon, and Google are similar. All cases involve major corporations collecting their users' or consumers' information secretly. With technology improving daily, these major corporations will find new ways to collect people’s data to gain massive profits from consumers. More lawsuits will arise when people claim that these major companies are too powerful as they have a lot of information about each individual. Some methods that can keep powerful companies in check from collecting and possibly selling information to third pirates rely on court cases or the government’s involvement to create legislation to limit or prohibit major companies from obtaining information from its people. 

Sources:

1. IL.ST.CH 740 § 14 (2008)
2. CBS Evening News, How Target retail helps catch criminals outside its stores, Youtube, (Apr 8, 2018)  https://youtu.be/y1HUhmawV8I?si=QJrlpUeYW_-OA6ZK
3. Mike Sinder, Lawsuit alleging Target illegally collected biometric data can move forward, judge says, (November 22, 2024), https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2024/11/22/target-class-action-suit-biometric-data/76505989007/
4. Wyatte Grantham-Phillips, Amazon sued over biometric information collection, tracking in New York Amazon Go stores, (March 23, 2024), https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2023/03/17/amazon-go-lawsuit-biometric-data/11491200002/
5. Alfredo Rodrgiguez Perez and others v. Amazon INC, No.23-cv-2251 (2023)
6. Texas v. Google LLC, No. 4:20-CV-957-SDJ, 2021 WL 2043184 (E.D. Tex. May 20, 2021)
7. Brett Molina, Texas attorney sues Google alleging its captured biometric data without permission, (October 22, 2022), https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2022/10/20/texas-google-lawsuit-biometric-data/10554588002/