Chatbot user files class action against Anthropic over biometric data policy

Filed 1h ago · Via Courthouse News · The Buffoon Desk

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Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: GOSSIP IN THE FIRST DECADE OF VICTORIA’S REIGN - book of 190 · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

Jose Enrique Ortiz Colon filed a class action against Anthropic in San Francisco County Superior Court, alleging the company's identity verification process for its Claude chatbot violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act. Colon says Anthropic required him to submit a government ID and a live facial image, which was matched against his license, without providing the written disclosures the law requires before collecting biometric data.

The complaint alleges Anthropic never told Colon in writing how long his facial scan would be retained and had no public policy on when such data would be destroyed, also naming verification vendor Persona Identities Inc. Colon seeks statutory damages of $1,000 to $5,000 per violation for himself and a proposed class of Illinois residents who went through the same process over the past five years.

An Anthropic spokesperson said the company takes user privacy seriously and is reviewing the complaint.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

Taking privacy seriously and putting the retention policy in writing before you scan someone's face are two different things, and only one of them is required by Illinois law. A company built around careful, well-labeled AI products apparently didn't get around to labeling what happens to the faces it collects to let people use those products. If the lawsuit's allegations hold up, the fix here isn't complicated, it's just a document somebody should have written months ago.

Source: Read the original at Courthouse News → Scored: Investigations · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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