More than 1M Facebook users to benefit from $650M privacy settlement
(The AEGIS Alliance) – Facebook will be required to pay hundreds of dollars each to almost 1.6 million users in Illinois because of a $650 million class-action privacy lawsuit settlement.
The payments have to be made “as expeditiously as possible,” U.S. District Judge James Donato of California stated in a Friday ruling, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Pending claims and expenses, the “landmark result” and as Donato dubbed it in his ruling, one of the biggest ever privacy settlements will see a minimum of $345 paid to each class member.
Chicago attorney Jay Edelson responsible for submitting the preliminary April 2015 lawsuit against the social media giant, referred to the settlement as “a big deal.”
He filed on behalf of Carlo Licata, a plaintiff who stated Facebook’s facial-tagging features without consent went against state privacy regulations. After heading to a federal courtroom within Windy City, the case received class-action standing upon its transfer to California federal court.
“It sends a pretty clear message that in Illinois, biometric privacy rights are here to stay,” Edelson said.
Companies are required to obtain permission prior to identifying customers by means of technology like facial recognition, the strict Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act says.
Unless the courtroom’s determination is appealed, Edelson notes that its class members’ checks are expected to be mailed within the next two months.
About 6.9 million Illinois Facebook users had been included in the settlement class, with nearly 1.6 million submitting their claim forms by the November deadline.
The three named plaintiffs will receive $5,000 as their part of the settlement, the remainder of the claimants, after $97.5 million in attorneys’ fees and near $915,000 in expenses will be distributed equally amongst class members.
Kyle James Lee – The AEGIS Alliance – This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
