Amazon Hit with Biometric Privacy Class Action Over ‘Just Walk Out’ Technology

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A proposed class action claims Amazon unlawfully collects, stores, shares and profits from the biometric data of consumers who shop at select Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh stores that employ the company’s Just Walk Out (JWO) technology.

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The 36-page lawsuit alleges that Amazon.com and subsidiary Amazon Web Services have, in violation of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), obtained thousands of residents’ facial and hand geometry scans and voice-prints through Amazon’s JWO hardware, and then stored and shared the data with third parties without first providing notice or obtaining written consent to do so.

In addition, the suit contends that Amazon has breached the BIPA by failing to publish details concerning how long the biometric information will be retained and when it will be permanently destroyed. Further, by utilizing JWO hardware in select stores and selling the technology to other retailers, Amazon has wrongfully profited from the capture and use of consumers’ data, the case charges.

“In a rapidly evolving world of technology, the drive for efficiency and convenience comes at the steep price of personal privacy,” the complaint says. “JWO technology is the exemplar of this conundrum.”

According to the filing, Amazon’s JWO system works as follows: a shopper who enters a select Amazon Go or Amazon Fresh store first scans a code on their Amazon app or credit card at the entry. Once inside, a “complex network” of cameras, microphones, sensors and artificial intelligence technology follows the customer’s movements through the store, automatically detecting when a product is taken from the shelves and adding it to a digital shopping cart, the lawsuit relays. Per the suit, the JWO system then electronically charges the shopper for the item as they walk out of the store, eliminating the need for conventional cash registers, self-checkout machines or register clerks.

However, “[a]t the heart of this system” is the unlawful capture, storage and dissemination to third parties of consumers’ biometric data, which the technology uses to identify shoppers, keep track of products and process payment when an individual exits the store, the case claims.

According to the complaint, Amazon’s JWO system creates “unparalleled privacy concerns,” as “massive amounts of shopper biometric data are being collected and used by the company to train complex surveillance technology that is currently being employed in direct violation of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).”

The plaintiffs, three Illinois residents who have visited several Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh stores that use JWO technology, say they were not informed about the capture, use or disclosure of their biometric information to third parties, and did not give Amazon their written consent to engage in such practices.

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone who, since September 20, 2018, entered an Amazon Fresh store in Bloomingdale, Naperville, Oak Lawn, Schaumburg, Westmont, Morton Grove, Naperville-Ogden, North Riverside Harlem or Norridge, Illinois. The suit also seeks to cover those who entered Amazon Go stores in Chicago, including the Madison Street, South Franklin, East Randolph, West Merchandise Mart Plaza and West Chicago Avenue locations.

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