Coinbase violated Illinois biometric privacy laws by collecting and storing its customers’ fingerprints and facial templates, a class action lawsuit alleges.
A lawsuit filed May 1 in a California district court by a Coinbase user alleged that The exchange’s requirement that a customer upload photos of a valid ID and a self-portrait so that the company can perform Know Your Customer (KYC) checks violates certain provisions of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). .
The lawsuit argues that BIPA required Coinbase to obtain permission from users to collect their biometric data. Coinbase also had to indicate the purpose of collecting such data, how long it would be stored, how it would be used, and how Coinbase would permanently destroy it.
“Coinbase did not have a written, publicly available policy setting out a retention schedule and guidelines for permanently destroying biometric information,” the lawsuit argued.
In a similar process used by other exchanges, the lawsuit says that Coinbase scans the photographs and creates a biometric template of a user’s face. Use the information to confirm the match between the self-portrait and the face on the supplied ID.
The company claims it has illegally collected and stored “thousands” of “highly detailed geometric maps of the face” and fingerprints of Illinois residents.
Biometric authentication, such as a fingerprint or facial scan, is also used in the Coinbase mobile app. to verify the user when they log into their account, the lawsuit claims.
It was alleged that Coinbase’s “collection, obtaining, storing and using” of such data is “illegal” and exposes users “to serious and irreversible privacy risks.”
“If Coinbase’s database containing facial geometric scans or other sensitive and proprietary biometric data is hacked, breached, or otherwise exposed, Coinbase users have no means to prevent identity theft.”
The lawsuit claimed that Coinbase should have “permanently destroyed” the biometric data after a user opened a Coinbase account, since such information was used for the sole purpose of opening the account.
The lawsuit seeks compensation in the amount of $5,000 for willful violation of BIPA or $1,000 if the court finds that the alleged violations were not willful, as well as payment of attorneys’ fees and class action court costs.
Cointelegraph reached out to Coinbase for comment, but did not hear back prior to the publication of this article.
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