Retinas, Faces and Fingers OH MY! What Biometric Privacy laws mean for your business.

In an increasingly digital world, we are more cognizant than ever of the need to protect our personal information. We place credit freezes on our cards and encrypt our Apple watches.  Business owners that collect PII and PHI (Personally Identifiable and Protected Heath Information) face serious liability risks if they don’t properly secure it. Now, the stakes are even higher as PHI also includes Biometric information such as retina scans, fingerprints, and facial features.

 
In 2008, Illinois became the first state to enact laws protecting the privacy of biometric data. Other states such as Washington, Texas and Virginia are introducing laws to govern this data, and Federal legislation may follow soon as well.  In the meantime, insurance carriers have been silently crafting BIPA exclusions to scale back the broad coverage provided in cyber policies. So where does this leave the business owner in the event of a suit? You guessed it, holding the bag.  In 2020, Facebook agreed to a $650 million settlement in a BIPA class action lawsuit (Patel v Facebook, Inc.), one of the largest consumer privacy settlements in US history.  In light of this, we want to arm you with the information you need to protect your business and safeguard the private information your business may collect.  Check out the articles for important information on this topic: 


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