Google agreed to pay $100 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging its face grouping tool in Google Photos violated Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act by collecting facial geometry data without proper consent.
Google faced a class-action lawsuit in Illinois over its face grouping feature in Google Photos, which automatically identifies faces in uploaded photos and videos. The lawsuit alleged Google violated Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) by collecting and analyzing facial structure data without providing written notice, obtaining informed consent, or publishing data retention policies. The BIPA, introduced in 2008, prohibits companies from collecting biometric data including face geometry scans without proper disclosure and consent. Google agreed to a $100 million settlement without admitting wrongdoing. Illinois residents who appeared in Google Photos between May 1, 2015, and April 25, 2022, were eligible for payments between $200-$400 each. As part of the settlement, Google was required to provide users with notice about the face grouping feature and implemented opt-in consent for the feature in Illinois. This followed similar cases including Facebook's $650 million settlement for its Tag Suggestions feature and ongoing litigation against Snapchat for its facial recognition lenses and filters.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
AI systems that memorize and leak sensitive personal data or infer private information about individuals without their consent. Unexpected or unauthorized sharing of data and information can compromise user expectation of privacy, assist identity theft, or cause loss of confidential intellectual property.
AI system
Due to a decision or action made by an AI system
Unintentional
Due to an unexpected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed