IBM Class Action Alleges Privacy Law Infringement

International Business Machines (IBM) has been hit with a class action lawsuit by an individual who claims the company scanned and collected his photos from the internet in violation of Illinois’ Biometric Privacy Law (BIPA).

Steven Vance says that in 2008 he uploaded a photo of himself and two family members to Flickr, a popular photo-sharing site.

He claims that he was not advised that IBM would be scanning his facial geometry or that his photo would be sent to the defendant for these purposes.

The plaintiff states that IBM collected, stored and disseminated the facial measurements of thousands of citizens of Illinois, in what is a “flagrant” violation of the BIPA.

“Using a set of images from the photo-sharing service Flickr, Defendant scanned the facial geometries of approximately one million individuals and built a database containing each of their unique ‘craniofacial measurements,’” the IBM class action lawsuit states.

The plaintiff claims that IBM performed these tasks without letting any of the individuals know that their biometric information was being collected. Nor did IBM inform them of the purposes for collecting this information, according to the plaintiff. In addition, IBM did not seek the individual’s consent to capture the information.

IBM also shared the plaintiff’s biometric information with third-party researchers without consent, the plaintiff says.

“As a direct result of IBM’s actions, these individualized facial measurements could be tied back to the Flickr accounts that originally posted the originating photos,” claims the IBM class action lawsuit.

The plaintiff says his biometric identifiers are no longer in his control and are available to a possibly unlimited amount of individuals to use in however they choose.

Vance notes that from 2016 to 2018, IBM derived more revenue from artificial intelligence than any company in the world. The plaintiff alleges that IBM’s revenue from artificial intelligence products was more than $2.5 billion.

The products that IBM has created for the use of biometric data include Watson Visual Recognition, which IBM’s clients can use to estimate the age and gender of individuals that are depicted in the images scanned by the company.

“As businesses worldwide compete to develop ever more advanced facial recognition technology, the race for data imperils the privacy of individuals everywhere,” the IBM class action lawsuit claims.

The plaintiff says he is bringing this class action complaint to seek a declaration that IBM’s behavior violates the BIPA as well as an injunction ordering IBM to delete the data, to inform individuals that the data was collected and to take back data that was publicized.

In addition, the plaintiff is seeking liquidated damages of $5,000 for each violation of the BIPA.

“Plaintiff would not have consented to the collection, storage, or dissemination of his biometric identifiers and information, and was injured when defendant deprived him of his legally protected right to control when, how, and to whom such information is disclosed,” the IBM class action lawsuit states.

Do you know if IBM has your biometric data? Leave a message in the comments section below.

The plaintiff is represented by Arthur Loevy, Michael Kanovitz, Jon Loevy, and Scott R. Drury of Loevy & Loevy. 

The IBM Biometric Class Action Lawsuit is Steven Vance v. International Business Machines Corp., Case No. 1:20-cv-00577, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

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