Target Sued for Biometric Surveillance

Target (Minneapolis) has been hit with a class-action lawsuit alleging it broke the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, which was passed in 2008 and is designed to protect people from their physical characteristics being collected without their knowledge, MediaDailyNews reports. The suit comes a few months after the Federal Trade Commission banned Rite Aid from using facial recognition in its stores for five years.

The suit, which lists an Arnetta Dean as the lead plaintiff, was filed several weeks ago in Illinois’ Cook County, which is home to Chicago and its surroundings. Target has 108 stores in Illinois; information on which one(s) were cited in the suit was not immediately available.

Target did not respond to MediaDaily News’ request for comment.

Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act prohibits private companies from collecting unique biological information, including retina scans, fingerprints, voiceprints, hand scans, facial geometry or DNA, unless they’ve informed people in writing. They must also tell consumers why they are collecting the data and how long it will be stored.