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An Illinois woman filed a class action lawsuit against Target, accusing the retail giant of collecting and storing her biometric data, including face and fingerprint scans, without her consent in violation of state law.
Arnetta Dean, who filed the lawsuit with the intention of preventing Target from further violating the privacy rights of state residents, is also pursuing statutory damages for the company's alleged collection, storage and use of customers' biometric data, according to the lawsuit obtained by FOX 32 Chicago.
The lawsuit, filed last month in Cook County, claims Target's surveillance systems, including cameras with facial recognition technology installed in Illinois stores, "surreptitiously" collect biometric data on customers without their knowledge or consent.
"Target does not notify customers of this fact prior to store entry, nor does it obtain consent prior to collecting its customers' Biometric Data," the lawsuit said.
According to the lawsuit, Target violated the state's Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) by collecting, storing and using biometric information without obtaining written consent from customers or providing them with adequate information about data retention and destruction policies.
BIPA, which passed in 2008, states that companies in Illinois are prohibited from collecting, storing or giving out biometric data without providing notice and obtaining personal consent. Companies are also required to inform individuals of the specific purpose and duration of data collection, and they must disclose how the information will be retained and when the information will be destroyed. The lawsuit says Target failed to comply with the aforementioned requirements.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by iamjacksusername on Saturday April 20, @09:33PM
Target has been doing this since 2008. It is well-known in the academic community. They are running license plate recognition on all the video surveillance in their parking lots and they match it across their CC data. They are one of the largest buyers of psychographic data - they map geo data to license plate data. If you use a CC, they can tie the CC transaction to the bluetooth on your phone and map where you go in the stores.
There was a story in the WSJ 15 years ago - their head of marketing gave an example where they had an angry father come to a store demanding to know why Target was sending ads for pregnancy products to his 15-year old daughter. The father came back a week later and apologized - his daughter was pregnant. Target knew his daughter was pregnant before he did. That is how good their data is and that was back in 2008.