Madison Reed class action lawsuit alleges company violates privacy law

Madison Reed lawsuit overview:

• Who: A Madison Reed consumer is suing the hair color company.
• Why: The plaintiff alleges the company violated Illinois biometric privacy laws.
• Where: The Madison Reed lawsuit was filed in a California county court.

Hair color company Madison Reed violates Illinois biometric privacy laws through its virtual hair color try-on tool, a new class action lawsuit alleges.

Plaintiff Jennifer Conidi filed the class action lawsuit against Madison Reed Inc. on April 14 in a California county court, alleging violations of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). 

According to the lawsuit, hair coloring company Madison Reed captures and uses people’s biometric data in violation of BIPA through its virtual hair color makeover tool.

The tool either uses facial recognition software to scan a consumer’s face or asks them to upload a picture. 

“Each face template is unique to an individual and can be used to identify them,” the lawsuit states.

However, in direct violation of BIPA, Madison Reed allegedly never informed consumers it was capturing and storing their facial data. 

Madison Reed did not advise consumers of data collection, lawsuit alleges

Under BIPA, the company should have advised consumers of the purpose of the collection of their facial data and the length of time it would be stored, Conidi says. 

It also allegedly failed to develop a written policy for then the information would be destroyed. 

Conidi says she was one of the consumers who went to the company’s website and used the virtual try-on tool, without receiving the proper disclosures about the use of her facial data.

As a result, Conidi is suing on behalf of anyone whose biometric identifiers were collected by Madison Reed in Illinois.

She is suing for multiple violations of BIPA and seeks damages of up to $5,000 for each violation, fees, costs and a jury trial.

Earlier this year, Madison Reed was hit with another class action lawsuit alleging it illegally collected the facial geometry data of visitors to its website who used its virtual try-on feature. 

What do you think of the allegations against Madison Reed? Let us know in the comments.

The plaintiff is represented by Scott J. Ferrell of Pacific Trial Attorneys APC.

The Madison Reed class action lawsuit is Jennifer Conidi, et al. v. Madison Reed Inc., Case No. 2:23-cv-02823, in the U.S. District Court for the State of California County of Los Angeles.

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