Coinbase Faces A Lawsuit Over Biometric Privacy Violations

The prominent crypto exchange Coinbase is witnessing a class action lawsuit. The respective lawsuit says that the crypto exchange’s operations take into account a privacy infringement. A consumer accused the platform of infringing privacy laws in the jurisdiction of Illinois. The petitioner has additionally accused the company of obtaining as well as keeping the facial scans and fingerprints of the consumers.

A Coinbase Client Files a Lawsuit Against It for Allegedly Infringing Biometric Privacy

On the 1st of May, a Coinbase client submitted a lawsuit confronting the crypto platform in a District Court in California. The consumer mentioned that the crypto exchange yields the uploaded duplicates of the self-portraits and valid IDs of the consumers during the procedure of account opening. The crypto exchange has implemented the requirement to perform Know Your Customer (KYC) checks.

Even then, the client has accused the firm of having infringed the privacy laws. As noted in the case filing, the crypto exchange supposedly infringed a few of the Biometric Information Privacy Act provisions implemented within Illinois. The filing pointed out that BIPA demands the crypto exchange to have permission from the consumers before getting their biometrics.

In addition to this, the crypto exchange must announce the purpose of collecting such data. Moreover, it should inform the consumers of how long the respective data will be stored by it. The document brought to the front that the crypto entity has been gathering and keeping the data taking into account several biometric particulars of the consumers living within Illinois.

It also referred to the data that comprises geometric maps of the fingerprints and faces of the consumers. Along with this, the crypto exchange is utilizing biometric authentication for its mobile-based application to validate the consumers while they log into their accounts. Furthermore, the lawsuit filing argues that the crypto exchange does not have any written policy dealing with a schedule for data retention.

Apart from that, the lawsuit says that Coinbase lacks procedures dealing with the permanent destruction of biometric data. The lawsuit asserted that the crypto exchange utilizes a procedure analogous to the rest of the crypto exchanges to scan pictures as well as construct a biometric template dealing with the face of a consumer.

The crypto exchange will then utilize the data for matching the face scan as well as the image present on the ID before confirmation. The filing specified that such data gathering and storage by Coinbase, including the crucial details about the consumers, pose great and permanent privacy risks. In this way, the lawsuit demands damages of up to $5,000 over each intentional BIPA infringement.

On the other hand, it seeks $1,000 if the ruling says that the infringement was unintentional. Additionally, the crypto exchange will have to recompense the attorney fees as well as the rest of the court charges dealing with the lawsuit. BIPA is known as a law that requires organizations, companies, and firms to get consumers’ consent before obtaining biometric data.

Binance Also Faced a BIPA-Infringement Case in 2021

Along with that, it also says that the companies must declare the length of the period for storing the collected data. Nonetheless, the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) of Illinois has ignited many lawsuits in diverse industries. Back in 2021, Binance (the biggest crypto exchange around the world) also witnessed an analogous lawsuit submitted by a consumer for the infringement of the BIPA.

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