Illegally tapped biometric data: Instagram facing billions in lawsuits

Illegally tapped biometric data

Facebook is known for not taking it too closely with data protection, which is what critics accuse the social network of repeatedly. Currently, Instagram is targeted in a lawsuit and the allegations of alleged privacy violations are serious.

For Facebook, complaints in connection with data protection are nothing new, but the latest one, which is in the company of Mark Zuckerberg, could be particularly painful - especially financially.

Data of 100 million users

As the business portal Bloomberg reports, a lawsuit was filed in California earlier this week. In it, the Facebook subsidiary Instagram is accused of having collected, stored and benefited from the biometric data of 100 million Instagram users and all without their knowledge or consent.

Study asks: password or biometric authentication?

Facebook described lawsuits and accusations as "groundless" because Instagram does not use facial recognition technology, spokeswoman Stephanie Otway told Bloomberg. The lawsuit claims that Instagram does this very well and creates "face templates" that are stored in the Facebook database.

"As soon as Facebook collects the protected biometric data of its Instagram users, it uses it to improve its facial recognition capabilities for all its products, including the Facebook application, and to share this information with various third parties.", so the lawsuit.

The plaintiff, a woman from Illinois named 

Kelly Whalen, refers to the legislation of her home state, which provides for a fine of 1000 to 5000 dollars for the unauthorized collection of biometric data - noted well. Whether and how the plaintiff can prove the data collection is not known. However, Facebook has recently settled a very similar lawsuit out of court, costing 650 million dollars, as Todayus reports.