Biometrics Risks in the Lone Star State: What In-House Counsel & C-Suite Executives Need to Know
(PYMNTS, Apr 26, 2024)
While the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”) has garnered the vast majority of media coverage and attention of in-house counsel and c-suite executives in recent years, there have been other major developments that have taken place in connection with similar laws outside of Illinois. In particular, Texas’s Capture or Use of Biometric Identifiers Act (“CUBI”) has been the subject of several high-profile biometrics lawsuits involving some of the world’s largest tech gia
Fact Check Team: Colorado First to Expand Privacy Protections to Include Brainwave Data
(Bakersfield Now, Apr 26, 2024)
Colorado Governor Jared Polis just signed a bill into law that will protect people’s brainwaves, the first legislation of its kind. The law expands the definition of “sensitive data” under the Colorado Privacy Act to include “neural data” or data found in a person’s brainwaves. This means that neural data will have the same protections as fingerprints, facial recognition or other sensitive data.
Are Your Brain Waves for Sale?
(Forbes, Apr 26, 2024)
Unlike medical, academic, and marketing research tools, consumer-oriented EEGs are intended to be used for extended periods of time, often with sessions lasting many hours. While “brain activity” per se has little use to marketers and data-brokers, some aspects might be of interest. Would a life insurance company find your history of sleep problems useful? Could your measured activation levels be connected to content you were viewing on your device to provide marketers with unique insights?
Stop Using Your Face or Thumb to Unlock Your Phone
(GIZMODO, Apr 26, 2024)
Last week, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in California released a ruling that concluded state highway police were acting lawfully when they forcibly unlocked a suspect’s phone using their fingerprint. You probably didn’t hear about it. The case didn’t get a lot of coverage, especially because the courts weren’t giving a blanket green light for every cop to shove your thumb to your screen during an arrest. But it’s another toll of the warning bell that reminds you to not trust biometrics to keep your phone’s sensitive info private. In many cases, especially if you think you might interact with the police (at a protest, for example), you should seriously consider turning off biometrics on your phone entirely.
Facial Recognition: Revolutionizing Identification and Security
(Tech Bullion, Apr 26, 2024)
Applications for facial recognition technology are numerous and span many different industries. It has become a potent tool for identification and security. Although it has many advantages, serious ethical, prejudice, and privacy concerns exist. The ever-changing field of facial recognition requires us to reconcile the needs of security with those of the person.
