Home Depot sued for allegedly using facial recognition at self-checkout kiosks without consent

Home Depot class action lawsuit overview:

• Who: A Home Depot customer, plaintiff Benjamin Jankowski, is suing the company.
• Why: Jankowski claims Home Depot collects biometric data without consent.
• Where: The Home Depot class action was filed in Illinois federal court.

A new class action lawsuit accuses Home Depot of collecting biometric data from customers without their consent.

Plaintiff Benjamin Jankowski filed the class action complaint against Home Depot on Aug. 1 in Illinois federal court, alleging violations of state privacy laws.

Jankowski alleges Home Depot has been collecting biometric data from customers without their consent, which is in violation of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).

BIPA, enacted by the Illinois Legislature, regulates the collection, use and storage of biometric identifiers, such as facial geometry scans. It requires private entities to develop publicly available written policies for retaining and destroying biometric data and to obtain informed, written consent from individuals before collecting their biometric information.

Lawsuit claims Home Depot’s use of facial recognition constitutes BIPA violations

According to information in the lawsuit, Home Depot has been using facial recognition technology in its stores to collect customers’ facial geometry.

The company reportedly announced in August 2023 that it had begun using “computer vision” in its stores, a type of artificial intelligence that uses machine learning to derive information from digital images and videos.

By May 2024, Home Depot had expanded its use of the technology to help mitigate theft at self-checkout stations, the lawsuit says.

The plaintiff alleges that Home Depot’s use of facial recognition technology violates BIPA because the company did not make its retention policies publicly available and did not obtain customers’ informed, written consent before collecting their biometric data.

Jankowski, who regularly shops at a Home Depot location in Chicago, claims he noticed a camera and screen at a self-checkout kiosk during a recent visit. He says he saw his image on the screen with a green box around his face, indicating that the system was capturing his facial geometry.

The plaintiff claims that Home Depot has failed to satisfy its legal obligations under BIPA and has disregarded customers’ rights to privacy.

He is looking to represent all individuals who had their facial geometry collected while visiting a Home Depot store in Illinois. He is suing for violations of BIPA and is seeking certification of the class action, damages, fees, costs and a jury trial.

In 2024, consumers sued Home Depot over claims that it used fake reference prices to mislead them into believing items were discounted.

What do you think of the claims made in this Home Depot class action lawsuit? Let us know in the comments.

The plaintiff is represented by David M. Cialkowski, Brian C. Gudmundson, Michael J. Laird and Madison M. DeMaris of Zimmerman Reed LLP and Jamisen A. Etzel and Christopher Cornelius of Lynch Carpenter LLP.

The Home Depot class action lawsuit is Jankowski v. The Home Depot Inc., Case No. 1:25-cv-09144, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

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