In recent months, facial recognition technology has become a hot topic and a heated debate amid growing privacy concerns, and that debate has added a new chapter recently.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has been moving forward with using the technology at airport security to make the process more efficient and effective, despite pushback from lawmakers.
Now, a major retailer is facing a lawsuit related to its alleged use of facial recognition technology.
Facial Recognition Technology Controversy
While facial recognition technology has plenty of upside when it comes to efficiency in security, there are privacy concerns.
Perhaps the most notable and public debate about the use of the technology has been at airport security screenings.
The TSA has been moving forward with utilizing facial recognition technology at its airport security checkpoints throughout the country, but lawmakers have pushed back on the move, citing security concerns.
Bipartisan legislation has been proposed that would limit the TSA’s use of the technology, protect a traveler’s right to opt out of facial recognition screening, and put limits on how the data is used and stored.
Home Depot Faces New Lawsuit
Facial recognition technology isn’t just used at the airport, however, but it’s drawing similar concerns when used in the private sector, too.
Earlier this month, Home Depot was hit by a class action lawsuit about its alleged use of facial recognition technology as one customer claims that the home improvement retailer has been collecting biometric data from customers without customer consent, which is in violation of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), according to Top Class Actions.
The lawsuit claims that Home Depot has been using facial recognition technology in its stores to collect customers’ facial geometry after the company expanded its “computer vision” technology in 2024 to help stop and prevent theft.
Plaintiff Benjamin Jankowski, a regular Home Depot customer, claims that he recently noticed a camera and screen at a self-checkout kiosk during a recent visit and noticed a green box around his face on the screen, which appeared to suggest that the system was capturing his facial geometry.
Jankowski believes this violates the BIPA because the company does not make its policies publicly available, and it also did not obtain customers’ informed, written consent before collecting their biometric data.
Experts Express Concern
With facial recognition technology expanding in both the private and public sectors, experts have been voicing their concern about how this data will be used and stored. While most of these concerns have been directed toward the TSA and the Department of Homeland Security, they’re relevant to the private sector, too.
If Home Depot is not informing customers that they are even capturing facial recognition data, they obviously aren’t informing them what will be done with that data, either.
