Will Voice Recognition Tech Be the Target of a New Wave of BIPA Complaints?
A group of McDonald's customers claim that the food service chain's drive-thru technology violates Illinois' biometric privacy law. If they can prove that the company is using voice recognition to identify repeat customers, some privacy attorneys say the case could make new law.
June 03, 2021 at 03:18 PM
4 minute read
A proposed privacy class action against McDonald's Corp. over its drive-thru voice assistant could create new case law on voiceprint biometrics, but privacy attorneys say the customers bringing the case first have to prove that the fast food giant is using the artificial intelligence to identify customers.
On Friday, McDonald's counsel at Jones Day removed an Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) suit against the company to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The lawsuit centers on McDonald's voice recognition technology used in some of its drive-thrus and developed by Apprente, a San Francisco Bay Area startup McDonald's acquired in 2019.
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