McDonald’s class action over voice data collection at drive-thrus dismissed

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Update: 

• A McDonald’s customer agreed to drop his class action lawsuit alleging the fast food giant illegally collected and used customers’ biometric data recorded at its drive-thrus.
• On July 12, plaintiff Shannon Carpenter and McDonald’s Corp. filed a joint stipulation in an Illinois federal court asking for dismissal. 
• The pair did not specify whether a deal had been reached out of court or why the plaintiff dropped the suit. The stipulation says each party will cover its own attorneys’ fees and costs. 
• Carpenter alleged that, in 2020, McDonald’s started using artificial intelligence voice assistants at restaurants around the country, which let customers place orders without any human interaction. 
• He claimed the technology collected customers’ voiceprint biometrics to correctly interpret orders and identify repeat customers to provide a tailored experience. However, he said the collection of that data did not comply with Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).

(June 29, 2021)

Fast food giant McDonald’s has asked a federal court to toss out a class action lawsuit against it, saying the lawsuit’s claims that it collects and uses customers’ biometric data are untrue and unfounded.

The company argued for the dismissal of the Biometric Information Privacy Act class action lawsuit in an Illinois federal court, Law360 reports.

According to the class action lawsuit, filed by lead Plaintiff Shannon Carpenter on April 26, in 2020 McDonald’s started using artificial-intelligence voice assistants at restaurants around the country, which let customers place orders without any human interaction. Carpenter alleges that the technology collects customers’ voiceprint biometrics to correctly interpret orders and to identify repeat customers to provide a tailored experience.

“However, McDonald’s has failed to comply with BIPA’s regulations and does not notify its customers that when they interact with McDonald’s artificial intelligence voice assistant, their voiceprint biometric information is used and collected, nor does McDonald’s obtain their consent to do so,” the claim reads.

According to the class action lawsuit, when a customer verbally interacts with the artificial intelligence assistant to place an order, the technology “extracts” the customer’s voiceprint to analyze unique features of the voice, including pitch, volume, and other details such as the customer’s age, gender, accent and national origin, Law360 reports.

The claim also alleges that McDonald’s uses machine learning to combine voiceprints with license plate scanning technology to identify customers in any location to offer them menu items based on their past visits.

However, McDonald’s says that Carpenter has no evidence that any of those things take place and the company does not collect customers’ biometric data.

The company told the court that Carpenter’s $5 million class action lawsuit relied on unfounded assumptions unsupported by the facts.

“Plaintiff attaches a patent to support his allegations of ‘defendant’s AI voice assistant,'” McDonald’s said.

“That patent does not describe technology that uses biometric information. Rather, that patent describes ‘a software program that interprets and responds to statements made by users in ordinary natural language.'”

The company continued that the voice-assistant technology did not identify a person using their biometric data or obtain any information about a customer’s age, gender, accent, nationality, or national origin, Law360 reports.

“McDonald’s denies liability for plaintiff’s claims and any purported damages, but McDonald’s recognizes that the complaint’s allegations provide the requisite amount in controversy for removal under CAFA,” McDonald’s said.

McDonald’s is also fighting a class action lawsuit in which customers claim they are being deceived and paying a premium for ingredients that aren’t natural after learning the fast food chain’s vanilla cones aren’t made from authentic vanilla beans.

Have you ever had concerns about a drive-thru storing recordings of your voice? Let us know in the comments section!

Carpenter is represented by Eugene Y. Turin, Timothy P. Kingsbury, Colin P. Buscarini and Andrew T. Heldut of McGuire Law PC.

McDonald’s is represented by Michael J. Gray, Efrat R. Schulman, Thomas W. Ritchie, Jennifer W. Plagman and Katherine S. Bailey of Jones Day.

The McDonald’s Drive-Thru Biometric Data Class Action Lawsuit is Carpenter v. McDonald’s Corp., Case No. 1:21-cv-02906, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:

• Six Flags Pays $36M to End Illegal Fingerprint Scan Class Action Lawsuit
• McDonald’s Takes Voiceprints During Drive-Thru Trips, Alleges Class Action Lawsuit
• Oberweis Dairy Collected Employees’ Fingerprints Without Consent, Class Action Lawsuit Claims
• Clearview AI Wants Biometric Privacy Class Action Lawsuits Dumped