WeWork Facing Biometric Privacy Class Action Over Use of Facial Recognition Scans at Chicago Office Spaces [DISMISSED]
Last Updated on April 21, 2022
Osborne v. WeWork Companies Inc. et al.
Filed: November 5, 2019 ◆§ 2019CH 12856
A class action claims WeWork's practice of scanning the faces of those who use its office spaces violates the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act.
WeWork Companies Inc. WeWork Construction LLC WW 210 N Green LLC 332 S Michigan Tenant LLC WeWork Grant Park WW 111 West Illinois LLC WeWork River North 20 W Kinzie Tenant LLC WeWork4 100 S State Street Tenant LLC 125 S Clark Street Tenant LLC 222 S Riverside Plaza Tenant 330 North Wabash Tenant LLC 515 N State Street Tenant LLC 1 South Dearborn Street Tenant LLC 625 West Adams Street Tenant LLC
Illinois
Case Updates
April 19, 2022 – Plaintiff’s Claims Dismissed
The judge overseeing the case detailed on this page dismissed the plaintiff’s claims against WeWork after finding that they were released as part of another class action settlement.
According to a March 31 order, WeWork purchased biometric information software called NetVerify from technology company Jumio, who was sued in April 2019 in a state court action alleging BIPA violations. A settlement in that case covered anyone in Illinois whose biometrics or photos were collected, captured, purchased, received through trade or otherwise obtained or in the possession of Jumio or its parents, subsidiaries, agents or their technology anytime between December 21, 2013 and December 23, 2019.
U.S. District Judge Edmond E. Chang found that because the plaintiff was a class member in that case, his BIPA claims against WeWork, a customer of Jumio’s, were released as part of the settlement.
According to the March 31 order, a postcard was mailed to the plaintiff on January 27, 2020 that informed him he was a class member in the Jumio settlement and that he must exclude himself if he did not wish to be legally bound by it. The order states that the settlement administrator never received a request for exclusion or a claim form from the plaintiff.
Judge Chang also noted that it is “not at all surprising” that the Jumio settlement included claims against its customers because of the likelihood that those customers could “come knocking on the defendant’s indemnity door later.”
Though the plaintiff’s claims were dismissed with prejudice, the proposed class members’ claims were dismissed without prejudice, meaning they could potentially file a new lawsuit against WeWork.
WeWork and a number of Chicago subsidiaries have been hit with a proposed class action lawsuit that alleges the shared workspace company’s practice of using facial recognition software to track how its office space is used violates the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).
Filed in Cook County Court, the case explains that SoftBank-controlled WeWork – which is currently fending off shareholder lawsuits over its floundered IPO, facing waves of criticism over how much it paid its former CEO on his way out, and in the process of shuttering all of its "non-core” businesses while extensive layoffs loom – purports to be the “future of white collar labor.” The real estate company, the suit says, offers startups, freelance workers, and corporations short-term, shared, state-of-the-art workspaces that reportedly come replete with fashionable furnishings and a bolstered level of security.
One of WeWork’s high-tech security toys is the sensor-driven facial recognition software the company uses to, the suit says, “track how its office space is used, down to data as granular as how [workers] adjust their desks and what parts of the office see the highest foot traffic.” In effect, the lawsuit goes on, when an individual steps into a WeWork office space, they’re unwittingly enrolled into the defendants’ facial recognition database “using a previously provided photo” of their facial geometry. WeWork in turn uses this database to “monitor individuals in their office spaces,” as well as track movement outside an office, the case says.
According to the complaint, WeWork disregards Illinois consumers’ privacy rights by unlawfully collecting, storing, disseminating and using unique biometric data without adhering to the state’s BIPA. The law, the case explains, requires companies who handle unique biometric identifiers such as fingerprints and facial scans to:
- Properly inform consumers in writing of the specific purpose and length of time for which their facial geometry is being collected, stored, and used;
- Publish a publicly available retention schedule and guidelines for the permanent destruction of consumers’ facial data;
- Receive a written release from consumers before collecting, storing, disseminating or otherwise using facial geometry; and
- Obtain consent from a consumer to disclose, redisclose or otherwise share their biometric information.
As the lawsuit tells it, proposed class members, upon having their faces scanned by WeWork, were never told what might happen to their biometric information, say, in the event of a merger with another company or if the defendants folded.
“These violations have raised a material risk that Plaintiff’s and other similarly-situated individuals biometric data will be unlawfully accessed by third parties,” the case reads.
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