$100M Google settlement resolves Google Photos data privacy class actions

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Update: 

• Google will pay $100 million to settle a class action lawsuit that accused the tech giant of violating user privacy by illegally collecting and storing images of people’s faces.
• The settlement secured final approval from Cook County Judge Anna Loftus on Sept. 28 and will benefit about 420,000 Illinois residents from seven class action suits. The suits accuse Google of scanning photos of users and nonusers and uploading them to Google Photos to amass a database of facial templates. The plaintiffs brought the lawsuit under the Illinois Biometric Privacy Information Act.
• The settlement class includes all Illinois residents who appeared in a photograph in Google Photos at any time between May 1, 2015, and the date of preliminary approval of the settlement. 
• In addition to the $100 million, each class member with a valid claim can receive roughly $140. Google also must overhaul its biometric collection practices. 

Google Class Action Lawsuit Overview:

• Who: Google
• What: Google is accused of violating user privacy by illegally collection and storing images of people’s faces without consent
• Where: Illinois state court, then possibly federal court.

(Sept. 02, 2021)

A class action lawsuit accusing Google of violating user privacy by illegally collecting and storing images of people’s faces is going to be dealt with first in an Illinois state court, to avoid any “inefficiencies” caused by litigating in federal court at the same time.

In an order filed Tuesday in an Illinois court, Judge Edmond E. Chang granted a motion filed by plaintiffs to stay the federal lawsuit in favor of having it heard in Illinois state court.

Chang made the decision considering the “waste” and “enormous inefficiencies and costs” of elements of one case being heard simultaneously in state and federal courts. 

“The significant costs imposed by piecemeal litigation — dividing the informed- consent claims and the retention-policy claims into two different forums — and the strong Illinois interest in presenting an Illinois statutory dispute to the Illinois state court system dictate that this federal case be stayed in favor of the state case,” he wrote.

Google Continues to Violate Biometric Information Privacy Act, Despite Prior Lawsuits

In 2016, Google was accused of violating the Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) through its face-recognition technology that allegedly scanned and stored so-called faceprints.

Illinois and Texas are the only two states that regulate how private companies may use biometric data, and Illinois is the only state that authorizes statutory damages for violations.

In their complaint, plaintiffs Lindabeth Rivera and Joseph Weiss opposed Google’s argument that BIPA does not cover scans of face geometry derived from photographs, stating that the “plain language of BIPA defines Google’s scans of face geometry to be biometric identifiers.”

BIPA prohibits private companies from collecting or storing biometric identifiers — including face geometry — without first obtaining expressed written consent.

Plaintiff Lindabeth Rivera claimed her face geometry was scanned and stored when she used Google’s cloud-based photo-sharing service, Google Photos – a service that analyzes the facial features of people who appear in pictures uploaded to it.

Rivera, a resident of Chicago, claimed that a Google Photos user took approximately 11 pictures of her with an Android-based smartphone that automatically captured the images and uploaded them to Google Photos.

After the upload, Google software allegedly scanned Rivera’s unique face geometry and created a template of her face.

Rivera claimed she does not use Google Photos or even owns an Android phone, thereby making her an unwitting participant in Google’s face-printing collection practices.

Plaintiff Joseph Weiss cites similar allegations regarding Google’s cloud-based photo storage services, whose claims were consolidated with Rivera’s.

Last year, Google faced another class action lawsuit under BIPA, with an Illinois resident claiming the tech giant wrongfully collects biometric information from kids through ChromeBooks distributed in public schools.

What do you think of the allegations against Google in this case? Let us know in the comments! 

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