What to Know If Your Clients Are Collecting Biometric Data

The following Q&A is an excerpt from Law.com's What's Next briefing, a weekly newsletter on the future of law. Click here to learn more. 

For those tracking litigation over biometric data, a decision from the Illinois Supreme Court in late January was a game changer. In Rosenbach v. Six Flags Entertainment, the court held that a violation of the state's Biometric Information Privacy Act, or BIPA, is enough to confer standing even without a concrete showing of harm. Cue the class actions!

Morrison & Foerster partner Julie O'Neill and associate Max Phillip Zidel recently wrote about the decision, highlighting the emerging conflict on BIPA between state and federal courts. We checked in for their take on the standing question and to ask how companies can collect and use biometric data without becoming an easy target for litigation.