Amazon Faces Class Action Lawsuit For Not Disclosing Collection Of Customers’ Biometric Data

A New York class action lawsuit against Amazon is requesting that the company be enjoined from tracking customers’ biometric information, such as collecting visitors’ facial scans or fingerprints, without alerting customers. The lawsuit is also requesting an award of damages and a jury trial.

Upon enacting a new law in 2021, New York City (NYC) became the only major city in the U.S. that requires companies to notify customers if they are collecting customers’ ‘biometric identifier information.’

This includes any company that collects, retains, converts, stores or shares its customers’ physiological or biological characteristics. The biometrics within the scope of this law include customers’ retina scans, fingerprints, voiceprints, and scans of their hands and faces.

Lawmakers testified in the committee report of the Biometric Identifier Information Law: As the use of facial recognition technology becomes more widespread it can give individuals or businesses the possibility to identify almost any person who goes out into public places, surreptitiously or otherwise, tracking movement, location and conduct. This will likely result in numerous private and public databases of information, which may be sold, shared, or used in ways that the consumer does not necessarily understand or consent to.