Used to authenticate employees and customers, enhance physical security, reduce fraud and theft, and customize online services, facial recognition technology, while increasing in popularity, can lead to expensive class-action liability if not properly administered under federal, state, and local laws. The city of Portland, Oregon, recently banned the use of facial recognition technology in any place of public accommodation, including where goods and services are sold. The measure provides a right of action and is expected to set off a firestorm of biometric privacy class actions, such as those that followed the enactment of Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), which also included a private right of action and allowed for statutory damages. Pittsburgh is considering similar legislation and Congress has also taken steps to regulate facial recognition technology.
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