A federal judge has denied Target’s request to dismiss a lawsuit accusing the retailer of illegally collecting customers’ biometric data.
The class-action suit, filed in May in federal court in Illinois, charges Target with capturing and storing consumers’ biometric data, including “scans of their facial geometry,” without informing them in writing or obtaining consent as required by the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), passed in Illinois in 2008.
The lawsuit − filed by four Illinois women who shop at Target on behalf of Illinois shoppers – notes that Target has installed cameras to monitor stores for shoplifting and uses facial recognition software. The women say neither they nor consumers have been told how data, including their likeness, is used or how long it is stored − something they say is required by the Illinois law.
Target had asked that the lawsuit be dismissed because the women’s claims were not based on their own factual knowledge but on news reports, including a 2018 CBS Evening News story on Target’s National Investigation Center, located just north of Minneapolis, where investigators can see video from all Target stores.