Taking the Pulse of Biometric Privacy
While the Covid-19 pandemic caused most areas of daily life to take a pause for the majority of 2020, that was certainly not the case for biometric privacy law. Most notably, 2020 saw a flurry of Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) opinions that brought much-needed clarity to the most significant biometric privacy law currently on the books. At the same time, many other states and municipalities introduced their own biometric privacy bills in an effort to place greater regulation over the use of biometrics. While only a small portion of those bills made their way into law—including laws in Portland, Ore., and New York City—those that were passed in 2020 are poised to have an outsized impact on how companies are able to use biometric data moving forward. The new laws may encourage lawmakers in other parts of the country to try their hand at enacting similar legislation. Meanwhile, efforts at the federal level—and, in particular, the introduction of a “nationwide BIPA” bill—have brought the possibility of a nationwide, uniform biometric privacy law much closer to reality.
Looking ahead, it is important to understand the current legal landscape, so businesses can both comply with current biometrics laws and position themselves to respond to the rapidly-evolving landscape of biometric privacy in 2021.
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An accompanying Checklist for this article was also featured in Bloomberg Law, available here.
“Taking the Pulse of Biometric Privacy,” by David J. Oberly was published in the March 2021 edition of Bloomberg Law Professional Perspectives, a publication of The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc.