The year started with Portland, Oregon's ban on the use of facial recognition technology by private entities in places of "public" accommodation — the first in the United States — taking effect Jan. 1, 2021. It concluded with the rendering of important appellate decisions on the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act that had been highly anticipated over the year. In the middle, was the continued flurry of litigation, class action settlements, and legislative activity.

Class Actions

The pace of new case filings under the Illinois Biometric Privacy Act did not slow, and their scope is expanding. Employers using finger-scan technology have been the most common targets of class actions and continue to be. Yet suits are now increasingly being filed against retailers and manufacturers of products or services that allegedly capture "biometric identifiers" or "biometric information." Litigation is also expanding its focus to non-finger technologies, like facial recognition and voiceprint. 2021 also saw several noteworthy BIPA settlements, including involving some of the first defendants to be have been sued under the BIPA and social media companies. As cases filed in the initial BIPA wave of 2018-2020 now get deeper into litigation, anticipate increased substantive rulings and appeals on critical, dispositive issues in 2022 and further settlements.