Helzberg.com ‘Virtual Try-On’ Feature Illegally Captures Illinois Users’ Biometric Data, Class Action Says

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Helzberg’s Diamond Shops faces a proposed class action lawsuit that alleges the jewelry retailer has captured without consent Illinois consumers’ biometric hand scans through a “virtual try-on” feature on Helzberg.com.

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The 14-page lawsuit claims that the virtual try-on tool on the company’s website collects a user’s “detailed and sensitive” hand geometry without the visitor’s knowledge or express consent and in violation of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). The suit says the defendant has also contravened the BIPA by failing to disclose how long users’ biometric information will be stored and if and when it will be destroyed.

Visitors to Helzberg’s website are able to virtually preview how certain jewelry items would look on their hands by clicking a link found beside applicable products that says “try it on,” the case relays. The link activates the user’s camera with the outline of a hand overlaid on the image, and as the person lines up his or her hand with the outline, photos are taken that capture the person’s hand geometry, the complaint explains.

According to the filing, the detailed scans of users’ hand geometry—a biometric identifier protected under the BIPA—are collected “unbeknownst to the website user” and without their consent.

The lawsuit adds that Helzberg’s privacy policy fails to mention how the biometric data is used or retained, and there is allegedly no written policy available to users that provides the defendant’s guidelines on permanently destroying the information, as required by the BIPA.

The plaintiff, an Illinois resident, used the virtual try-on feature on Helzberg.com numerous times last year to preview engagement rings on her hand, the suit says. While she did so, her hand geometry was captured by the defendant, the case claims. Like other visitors to the website, the woman neither gave her consent nor was informed how long her data would be stored, the complaint states.

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone residing in Illinois whose biometric data was obtained by Helzberg’s Diamond Shops through the use of the “virtual try-on” tool on Helzberg.com.

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