amicus biometrics data breach data protection EPIC Amicus Filing Rosenbach
EPIC Urges Illinois Supreme Court to Uphold Strict Limits on Biometric Data Collection
EPIC has filed an amicus brief with the Illinois Supreme Court in Rosenbach v. Six Flags Entertainment Corp, about the collection of a child's biometric data in violation of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act. EPIC explained that the Illinois biometric law "imposes clear responsibilities on companies that collect biometric identifiers" and said the company had failed to comply with the state law. EPIC made clear that "collection is the threshold safeguard in privacy law" and if corresponding provisions are "not enforced, the statute’s subsequent provisions are of little consequence." EPIC first identified the risk of collecting biometric data from children entering amusement parks in a 2005 report "Theme Parks and Your Privacy." The state of Illinois adopted the nation's first biometric privacy law in 2008. EPIC has long advocated for strict limits on use of biometric data. EPIC also routinely submits amicus briefs, including in the recent OPM data breach case that concerned the breach of 5.1 million fingerprints, precisely the same biometric data at issue in this case.