Class Action Lawsuit Claims MAC Cosmetics Illegally Collects Illinois Consumers’ Biometric Data

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A proposed class action lawsuit claims that MAC Cosmetics illegally uses its virtual makeup try-on technology to collect consumers’ biometric information in Illinois.

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According to the 17-page MAC Cosmetics lawsuit, the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) prohibits the collection of any state resident’s biometric data—such as fingerprints, facial geometry or retinal scans—without informed, written consent. However, MAC’s “virtual try-on” service, which scans a customer’s facial geometry in order to digitally simulate what various MAC products would look like on them, obtains no such consent before conducting its scan, the complaint alleges.

Per the suit, MAC hosts its virtual try-on service both on its website and in its brick-and-mortar retail locations, such as the one the plaintiff visited in Schaumberg, Illinois. The in-store try-on works, the complaint explains, by scanning the customer’s facial geometry and producing a live video stream in which various MAC makeup products can be applied to a digital, mirror-like replica of the customer’s face.

The online try-on tool functions similarly, the complaint writes, except it allows the customer to choose to one of three face-scanning options: allowing MAC’s website to access their device camera and produce the same live video function as the in-store try-on, using their device camera to take a photo of themselves via the website’s interface, or uploading an existing photo of their face to the site.

The lawsuit claims that nowhere in this process do MAC’s program or its retail employees ask the customers for any sort of consent to collect their biometric data, including the written consent required in Illinois.

The MAC Cosmetics class action lawsuit seeks to represent anyone who had the “virtual try-on” biometric scan used on them in any brick-and-mortar MAC store in Illinois or any Illinois resident who was subject to a biometric scan via MAC’s website.

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