EDWARDSVILLE - Amazon's cloud services division and a voice recognition company stand accused of violating Illinois' statute aimed at protecting people's biometric data.
Several plaintiffs have filed a class action claim against Amazon Web Services and Pindrop Security over allegations they collected voice recognition data following calls to and from service centers.
Christine McGoveran, Joseph Valentine and Amelia Rodriguez filed suit Dec. 17 in Madison County Circuit Court on behalf of themselves and all others from Illinois who used the services from Dec. 17, 2014 to the present day.
It is claimed they violated the state's Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). Amazon Web Services did not reply to a request for comment from the Madison Record.
The allegations center on calls to and from call centers and customer service representatives offering Amazon's cloud services. Voice recognition technology developed by Pindrop was used to identify callers, the plaintiffs allege.
It is claimed the voice print was collected, stored and passed on, while profit was gained from their retention, but that no written permission was given by the plaintiffs. These are all violations of BIPA, the suit states.
The plaintiffs, and all others joined to prospective class action, "suffered actual damage" because it has increased the likelihood that they will be the victims of fraud or identity theft, it is alleged.
BIPA, signed into law in 2008, regulates the collection and use of biometric data in the face of concerns over its increasing use and potential abuse.
When data is collected, an individual must be informed in writing, has to give permission, and the purpose and length of time of retention has to be disclosed. Further, the information gathered cannot be used to make a profit.
The plaintiffs are seeking $5,000 for each intentional violation and $1,000 for each negligent violation. The number in the proposed class is unknown at this stage.
They are represented by Jerome J. Schlicter of Schlicter Boland & Denton of St. Louis.
Madison County Circuit Court case number 2019-L-1786.