The Home Depot and Lowe’s are being sued for allegedly using facial recognition technology on customers without notifying them or seeking consent, the Cook County Record reports.
The two class action lawsuits, filed in Cook County Circuit Court in Chicago against Lowe’s and in federal court in Atlanta against Home Depot, claim the practice violates Illinois state privacy laws, which require customer consent and notification before facial recognition tracking is used. Plaintiffs are seeking damages of $1,000–$5,000 per violation, according to the report.
The lawsuits claim the retail stores use the systems as a “loss-prevention measure” to combat shoplifting and theft and that they can “track shoppers across multiple stores and identify ‘suspicious’ shopping activity,” according to the report. The lawsuits also claim the two companies have consistently declined to publicly discuss their systems.
