![]() ![]() Indeed, at the time, companies across the United States were pursuing biometric technologies, but consumers weren’t nearly as familiar with them as we are today - and the impact of such technologies was impossible to calculate. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images) Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service/Getty Images The Illinois State Capitol in Springfield on March 7, 2022. “The full ramifications of biometric technology are not fully known,” the law says. The text of the law, which was introduced in early 2008, mentions Pay By Touch by name and points out that, unlike a Social Security number, biometric identifiers are “biologically unique” and can’t simply be changed if they’re compromised. Lawmakers worried the data gathered by Pay By Touch, which had been available in Jewel-Osco grocery stores in the Chicago area, could be sold in the wake of its failure (the company was auctioned off in pieces). In Illinois, BIPA came about at least partly due to concerns over data gathered by a bankrupt fingerprint-scanning payment company, which then went belly-up. In the process, it has sent a message about the importance of personal data privacy that reverberates far beyond Illinois. Groups like the ACLU and individual consumers have used the law to sue a growing list of prominent companies from Facebook to Snapchat, and in some cases curbing the behavior of tech companies offering products and services in the state. “It’s the gold standard law,” said Chad Marlow, a senior policy counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union.Īs a result, Illinois has become the benchmark for regulating biometric technologies such as facial-recognition software. There is no federal legislation on the matter, and among the select few states to have taken action, the Illinois law is seen as uniquely effective. But legislation in the United States has not kept up. In the nearly 15 years since its passage, services using biometric data - from palm print recognition for buying groceries to facial-recognition software for unlocking your smartphone - have become increasingly common. It also sets rules regarding how companies must safeguard such information, prohibits companies from selling Illinois residents’ biometric data, and allows Illinois residents to sue companies for alleged violations of the law. The law, called the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), doesn’t just force companies to get permission from people before collecting biometric data like fingerprints or scans of facial geometry. Illinois is one of just a few states in the United States that has a law requiring companies to get consumers’ consent before snagging their biometric data, and its rule, passed in 2008, is seen as the toughest in the nation. One state, meanwhile, is literally making them pay up - and pay out directly to consumers. Regulators have spent years trying to make big tech companies pay for the ways they harvest and, at times, abuse users’ data. ![]()
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