NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — A class-action lawsuit filed against Amazon Thursday accuses the company of breaking a New York law requiring businesses to notify customers when tracking biometric data.
Amazon’s Go convenience stores allow customers to take what they’re buying without checking out by monitoring their actions and billing them remotely.
The company opened its first Go store in New York in 2018, and there are now 10 such shops in Manhattan.
In 2021, New York Passed a law requiring businesses to post a notice when tracking biometric information.
The lawsuit, which was introduced by the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P.) on behalf of Alfredo Perez, claims Amazon only introduced the appropriate signage more than a year after the law went into effect.
“We do not use facial recognition technology in any of our stores, and claims made otherwise are false,” said a spokesperson for Amazon. “Amazon One, our contactless, palm-based identity and payment service, is one of the entry options offered at select Amazon Go stores along with credit card and the Amazon app.”
“Only shoppers who choose to enroll in Amazon One and choose to be identified by hovering their palm over the Amazon One device have their palm-biometric data securely collected, and these individuals are provided the appropriate privacy disclosures during the enrollment process,” the spokesperson continued. “The customer is always in control of when they choose to be identified using their palm.”
S.T.O.P. alleges Amazon collects information like the shape and size of each customer’s body from all Go customers. The statement from Amazon only addressed facial recognition, which it denies using, and palm scanning, which it says is part of an opt-in program.
“New Yorkers shouldn’t have to worry that we’ll have our biometric data secretly tracked anytime we want to buy a bag of chips,” said S.T.O.P. Executive Director Albert Fox Cahn. “Taking our data without notice isn’t convenient, it’s creepy.”
“We have a right to know when our biometric data is used, and it’s appalling that one of the world’s largest companies could so flagrantly disregard the law,” he continued. “It’s stunning to think just how many New Yorkers’ data has already been compromised, and without them ever knowing it.”
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