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Facial recognition company, Clearview AI Inc, says that consolidated class action lawsuits alleging it violated Illinois biometric privacy laws when it scraped the internet for photos should be tossed because most of the activity occurred outside of the state.
On Monday, Clearview AI told U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman that claims the company violated Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) should be dismissed because the data scraping does not occur within that state. In addition, Clearview AI argued that its data scraping and other activities are constitutionally protected actions.
“Plaintiffs’ attempt to apply BIPA as a restriction on using ‘biometric information’ impairs Clearview’s First Amendment right to collect, analyze, and include public information in its search engine, and prevents the dissemination of that truthful and constitutionally-protected information,” contended the company on Monday.
The initial class action lawsuit was originally filed in January of 2020 by lead plaintiff David Mutnick. Mutnick alleged that pictures he posted of himself on the internet were “scraped” by the defendant without his consent. The plaintiff contended that in most cases, the terms of service on these internet sites prohibit scraping technology.
Multiple lawsuits claiming Clearview AI illegally gleaned biometric information from the internet followed and the claims were consolidated into multidistrict litigation (MDL) in Illinois federal court. The plaintiffs want an immediate injunction stopping Clearview AI from collecting or disseminating the information it scrapes from the internet.
In addition to claims that Clearview AI is providing its technology and facial recognition database to law enforcement agencies who use it to track those who have not committed a crime, the consolidated class action lawsuits further contend that the company is violating Illinois residents’ rights under BIPA.
On Monday, Clearview AI argued that the MDL’s allegations that the company violated other states’ biometric and privacy laws should be dismissed, along with the BIPA claims. The company also says that an injunction would likely put it out of business permanently.
Clearview AI is facing legal action on a number of fronts over its facial recognition and biometric data collection technology. In addition to multiple lawsuits in the United States, the company has faced legal action in Canada and the UK over contracts allowing law enforcement agencies to use its databases.
Do you think Clearview AI has scraped your biometric information from the internet? We want to hear from you! Tell us your concerns in the comment section below!
The lead plaintiffs are represented by Scott Drury of Loevy & Loevy.
The Clearview Biometric Data Class Action Lawsuit is In re: Clearview AI Inc. Consumer Privacy Litigation, Case No. 1:21-cv-00135, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
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