Final Approval Given For $6.75 Million Settlement Over Alleged Shutterfly Facial Recognition Privacy Violation

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Shutterfly Privacy Class Action Settlement Overview: 

• Who: Vernita Miracle-Pond and Samantha Paraf reached a class action settlement with Shutterfly, Inc. 
• Why: Plaintiffs filed a class action lawsuit alleging Shutterfly violated privacy laws by capturing and storing their biometric data without their consent. 
• Where: The class action lawsuit was heard in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois.

Final approval has been given on a $6.75 million class action settlement between Shutterfly, Inc. and a Class of Illinois residents who claim the photo-sharing company illegally collected and stored their biometric data without their consent, violating Illinois privacy law. 

Plaintiffs Vernita Miracle-Pond and Samantha Paraf had alleged in Illinois state court that Shutterfly uses facial-recognition technology to collect and store the biometric identifiers of anyone who appears in a photo uploaded to its platform.

The settlement money will go towards a Class of 955,000 Illinois residents who appeared in a photograph hosted on Shutterfly between July 2014 and present day. 

The class action lawsuit was filed in Cook County Circuit Cook in June 2019, but was later removed to federal court. Both parties eventually agreed to remand the case back to state court once they reached the settlement agreement. 

Shutterfly Violated the Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act, According to the Class Action

Miracle-Pond and Paraf allege that Shutterfly violated Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) by never informing anyone it was taking their biometric information or divulging its destruction and storage plans for the data.

Shutterfly had previously boasted about its ability to identify people in photographs on account of its “advanced image analysis,” and “photo-ranking algorithms,” according to the class action lawsuit. 

Shutterfly claimed the technology would make it easier for people to tag friends and family in photos by extracting a geometry scan of an individual’s face, according to Miracle-Pond and Paraf, who said they had their biometric data taken without their consent after a picture of them was uploaded to Shutterfly’s website. 

The court rejected Shutterfly’s argument that BIPA did not apply to them by claiming its definition of biometric identifiers does not include photographs.

A similar class action lawsuit was filed against Google this month alleging the company violated BIPA by capturing and storing images of peoples faces without their consent.  

Have you ever uploaded or had a picture of yourself uploaded to Shutterfly? Let us know in the comments! 

The plaintiffs are represented by Henry Kelston and Tina Wolfson of Ahdoot & Wolfson PC, Katrina Carroll and Kyle Shamberg of Carlson Lynch LLP, and David Milian of Carey Rodriguez Milian and Gonya LLP. 

The Shutterfly BIPA Class Action Lawsuit is Miracle-Pond et al. v. Shutterfly, Inc., Case No. 1:19-cv-04722, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:

• How Illinois’s Biometric Information Privacy Act Pushed Class Actions Against Big Tech
• Google Face-Scan Class Action Lawsuit to Move Forward in Illinois State Court
• Amazon ‘Virtual Try-On’ Collects Face Scans Without Consent, Disclosure, Says Class Action
• Virtual Eyeglass Try On Service Collects Consumers’ Biometric Info Illegally Claims Class Action