EDWARDSVILLE – A class action lawsuit alleges the voice identification system used by Amazon to identify customers violates Illinois privacy laws.
Plaintiffs Christine McGoveran, Joseph Valentine and Amelia Rodriguez filed the class-action lawsuit in the Madison County Circuit Court against Amazon Web Services, Inc., citing negligence and carelessness in violation of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).
According to the lawsuit, Amazon Web Services offers a service labeled "Amazon Connect" in which the company uses a "cloud-based contact center service" to facilitate customer calls between Illinois citizens and its agents from afar. The company advertises that Amazon Connect integrates with a set of tools, including a feature provided by Pindrop Security, Inc. that allows Amazon's call centers to confirm the identity of callers by the sound of their voice instead of a passcode. Pindrop describes the service as being able to authenticate callers by "extracting... intelligence from every call encountered." Amazon Connect, through the use of the built-in Voice ID feature, uses biometric data captured from Illinois citizens to confirm their identity.
The lawsuit states that BIPA laws require that prior to collecting biometric data, companies must inform visitors in writing that biometric data will be collected and stored. It also states that visitors must be informed in writing of the specific purpose of why the biometric data is being collected and how long it will be stored. Additionally, companies must receive a written release for the collection of biometric data.
The plaintiffs allege Amazon invades the privacy of its customers by collecting and storing their biometric data without informed consent. According to the plaintiffs, Amazon never received a release from them for the collection of their biometric data, and they never authorized Amazon to collect their biometric data for this use. They add that Amazon does not have written, publicly available policies identifying how long it will store biometric data or information for permanently destroying customers' biometric data.
The plaintiffs are demanding a jury trial to seek damages for themselves and everyone in the class action lawsuit, plus court costs, attorney fees and any other relief the court deems proper. They are also requesting the court to issue an order requiring Amazon to comply with BIPA and cease the collection of biometric data without informed written consent. They are represented in this case by the attorneys of Schlichter, Bogard & Denton LLP in St. Louis.
Madison County Circuit Court case number 2023LA000690