Google to pay $100 million to Illinois residents for Photos face grouping feature

Google has agreed to pay $100 million to Illinois residents to settle a class-action lawsuit over one of its facial recognition features in Google Photos (via Gizmodo). The complaint alleges Google’s face grouping tool, which automatically identifies your face in photos and videos uploaded to Photos, violates Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).

Introduced in 2008, the BIPA bars companies from collecting and storing any sort of biometric data, including a “retina or iris scan, fingerprint, voiceprint, or scan of hand or face geometry” without making an individual aware in writing about why it’s collecting this kind of data as well as how long it plans on storing it. Google “is in direct violation” of this law, the...

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