A class action lawsuit has accused financial tech app Plaid of allegedly improperly scanning the faces of users when they register to use the app, allegedly in violation of Illinois' biometrics privacy law.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Chicago on Feb. 13 by Candice Wilhelm, on behalf of herself and others allegedly similarly affected. The complaint alleges that Plaid violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act by collecting, storing and using app users' biometric data, allegedly without their knowledge or consent.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff opened accounts with several crypto companies including Banxa, Binance, Coinbase, Gemini, and Kraken within the last five years. As part of the registration process for these platforms, Plaid allegedly collected and retained her biometric information after she uploaded photos of herself to verify her identity to use the app.
The lawsuit seeks potentially huge damages under BIPA for these supposed violations. The law permits plaintiffs to demand damages of $1,000-$5,000 per violation. The Illinois Supreme Court has interpreted the BIPA law to define individual violations as each time a user's biometrics are scanned over a period of the preceding five years, not just the first time.
The plaintiffs seek to expand the lawsuit to include every Illinois resident who used a Plaid app in the past five years.
The lawsuit does not estimate how many people could be included in the class action, saying only they believe it is more than 1,000.
Plaintiffs are represented by attorneys Michael L. Fradin, of Skokie; and James L. Simon, of Independence, Ohio.