Ninth Circuit Leaves in Place Case that Allows Users to Sue Facebook for Face-Scans:A federal appeals court has let stand a ruling that users can sue Facebook for collecting and using their facial images. The court previously held in Patel v. Facebook that an Illinois biometrics law protects "concrete privacy interests" and violations of the law "pose a material risk of harm to those privacy interests." EPIC filed an amicus brief in the case, arguing that the violation of a privacy law is sufficient for users to sue a company. EPIC has also long advocated for limits on the use of biometric data and has opposed Facebook's use of facial recognition software. EPIC and others recently called for a global moratorium on facial recognition. (Oct. 23, 2019)

Though the fate of these proposed statutes as well as other pending legislation is unclear, companies that may be collecting, storing, or using biometric information should continue to monitor state law developments to ensure compliance with the law. In light of the clear trend of states jumping on the biometric bandwagon, and the speed with which some of the new laws are being proposed, companies may also be well-served by drafting and implementing policies and procedures to protect biometric information that are compliant with existing and anticipated state statutes, as potentially applicable. States all across the Country are pushing legislation to protect consumers check the Congress.gov website to check the status of your state’s bill! New York City’s Biometric privacy act goes into effect Feb 2020! Sign the petition let’s get the word out and unify “Its My data and can’t steal it or it will cost you big business”.