Class Action Lawsuit Alleges Microsoft Teams Unlawfully Captures and Stores Users’ Biometric Information

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A proposed class action lawsuit alleges that Microsoft Teams collects and stores users’ biometric voiceprints for transcription services without their knowledge or consent.

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The 24-page biometric privacy lawsuit alleges that Microsoft violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), which was enacted to prevent the unauthorized collection and misuse of consumers’ biometric information. According to the filing, biometric information is anything “biologically unique” to an individual, such as retina or iris scans, fingerprints, voiceprints, or scans of an individual’s facial structure.

The lawsuit alleges that Microsoft creates uniquely identifying user voiceprints by analyzing information about vocal pitch, cadence, timbre and other voice characteristics of participants in Teams meetings, then storing the information as numerical values for use in real-time transcription services offered by the online meeting platform. Per the case, the voiceprints allow Microsoft to create accurate transcriptions of “who said what, when” in a recorded Teams meeting.

The case states that the BIPA requires companies to disclose the collection and use of voiceprints (or other biometric information) and the purposes for which they are collected. Additionally, companies must obtain written consent from consumers to collect and store their sensitive biometric information, the suit says.

Moreover, the filing states that the BIPA requires any private entity that possesses biometric information to have a written policy with guidelines for the retention and eventual destruction of the information after it is used for its intended purpose.

Microsoft, the lawsuit charges, has defied all of these requirements; not only does Teams not disclose the collection and use of voiceprint information, but it does not ask for user consent or convey how long the information will be stored, how it will be used, when or if it will be permanently destroyed, “or even mention voiceprints at all,” the suit relays.

As the case tells it, Microsoft’s omissions are “reckless, if not intentional,” and consumers are left in the dark about how their highly sensitive biometric information will be used.

Biometrics are an exceptionally vulnerable form of personal information, the case says, because consumers cannot change them once they have been revealed, unlike Social Security numbers or other government-issued IDs. Citing the Illinois Legislature’s findings regarding the BIPA, the lawsuit explains that once biometric information is compromised, “the individual has no recourse, is at heightened risk for identity theft, and is likely to withdraw from biometric-facilitated transactions.”  

The plaintiffs, Illinois residents, all participated in Microsoft Teams meetings in which live transcription was enabled and had their voiceprints captured, the case states. The plaintiffs further allege that Microsoft never obtained or attempted to obtain their informed consent authorizing the company to collect, store or use their voiceprints.

The Microsoft Teams BIPA class action lawsuit seeks to cover all individuals whose biometric identifiers or biometric information was captured by Microsoft during the transcription of Microsoft Teams meetings in which they participated while residing (and/or present) in Illinois from March 1, 2021 to the present, excluding those who voluntarily enrolled in a Microsoft Intelliframe voice profile and were using their enrolled voice profile at the time of transcription.

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