22 Jul Illinois Companies Land In Court for Violating Biometrics Law
Chicago, Illinois — Last Friday, a report said companies were facing lawsuits in court for not following the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). The two companies in question were Intercontinental Hotel’s data center operator Zayo Group, and grocery company Roundy’s.
BIPA is a comprehensive law enacted in 2008 that gives citizens the sole right to press charges if firms obtain their biometrics data without their approval. Under the law, companies should inform people of the purpose for data collection, it also stops them from selling the data.
Zayo and Roundy’s allegedly failed to obtain written consent from workers, as well as provide documents explaining how the biometrics data is stored and until when it will be kept.
According to BIPA, businesses must also make their biometrics policy public by posting how the fingerprints will be obliterated once the company no longer needs it.
To date, both Roundy’s and Zayo declined to comment on the issue.
Source: Chicago Tribune
