Tech giant Facebook, which has changed its name to “Meta,” recently claimed that it plans to shut down its facial recognition system this month and delete all of the face scan data of over one billion users it has collected from users for over a decade.
The Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok, wildly popular with American teenagers, has updated its privacy policy to add a section stating that the app will collect biometric information including “faceprints and voiceprints” from users.
A future version of the Apple Watch may give the wearable devices the ability to measure blood pressure, blood glucose, and blood alcohol levels, according to newly-revealed information about one of Apple’s business partners.
Amazon is reportedly testing its palm-scanning payment technology in Whole Foods, starting with a single store in Amazon’s home city of Seattle. The biometric system identifies not only the customer’s palm print but even the pattern of veins in their hand to identify them for payment processing.
Russia’s largest food retailer, X5, announced on Wednesday the official launch of a “pay with a glance” biometric self-checkout service that will be installed in up to 3,000 X5 supermarkets and convenience stores across Russia by the end of 2021.
E-commerce giant Amazon has reportedly expanded its palm scanning payment tech to more of its physical stores in the Seattle area. A University of Oxford professor pointed out a major disadvantaged of the technology, saying: “You can never change your palm like you change your password or other identification tokens.”
Top Chinese political adviser Tan Jianfeng on Tuesday called for the establishment of a national “data bank” of biometric data, including facial and fingerprint recognition data, to protect Chinese “national security” and “information security.”
A federal judge has given final approval to a $650 million settlement for a class action lawsuit against Facebook which alleged that the Masters of the Universe stored biometric data in violation of Illinois state law.
The Russian Interior Ministry told state media on Saturday that it plans to create a national biometric database over the next three years that can identify both Russian citizens and foreign nationals using facial recognition, fingerprints, and genetic data.
E-commerce giant Amazon is testing palm-scanning payment technology at two of its Seattle convenience stores. If successful, the palm-scanning payment system could spread across the country.
A lawsuit filed against Facebook in California this week claims that the company’s Instagram platform is unlawfully harvesting biometric data from its users. The lawsuit claims that Instagram is intentionally stealing facial recognition data from more than 100 million users without their consent.
Payment provider Mastercard announced this week that it is developing various technologies that will allow it to identify customers by their strides, heartbeat, and vein patterns.
Social media giant Facebook has reportedly reached a $550 million settlement over a lawsuit that claimed the company illegally collected and stored biometric data for millions of users via facial recognition technology without their consent.
A recent report alleges that Google targeted homeless people with “darker skin tones” to capture their biometric data to improve the tech giant’s facial unlock system.
A major data breach reportedly found in biometrics security system “BioStar 2,” built by security company Suprema, has now made private data — such as fingerprints and facial recognition scans — public, affecting at least a million people. According to researchers, once biometric data is stolen, it cannot be retrieved, potentially affecting users “for the rest of their lives.”
Facebook could reportedly face billions of dollars in fines over their facial recognition features due to an Illinois law relating to the collection of biometric data.
