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September 3, 2024
On August 2, 2024, Illinois amended its Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). See 2023 Ill. SB 2979. The BIPA is a law that protects individuals from having their biometric data collected, stored, and shared without their consent. Biometric information is personal data that can be used to uniquely identify a person, including biological information, such as fingerprints, voiceprints, and eye scans; or behavioral information, such as signatures, keystrokes, and gait.
The amendments provide that a “written release” includes an electronic signature and define “electronic signature” as an electronic sound, symbol, or process attached to or logically associated with a record and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the record. These amendments reflect changes since the law’s enactment in 2008 in how releases are obtained.
The amendments also provide that multiple unlawful collections or disclosures of a person’s biometric identifier or biometric information constitute a single violation that limit an aggrieved person to one recovery. This amendment stems from a 2023 Illinois Supreme Court decision in Cothron v. White Castle System, Inc., where the court held that, according to the plain language of the statute, a claim under the BIPA accrues “with every scan or transmission of biometric identifiers or biometric information without prior informed consent.” Appreciating that this conclusion could expose biometric information collectors to excessive liability, at the end of its decision, the Illinois Supreme Court suggested that the legislature make clear its intent regarding the assessment of damages under the BIPA.
The amendments became effective immediately.
The author of this article, Patricia Tsipras, is a member of the Bar of Pennsylvania. This article is designed to provide one perspective regarding recent legal developments, and is not intended to serve as legal advice in Illinois, Pennsylvania, or any other jurisdiction, nor does it establish an attorney-client relationship with any reader of the article where one does not exist. Always consult an attorney with specific legal issues.
