Shutterfly settles Illinois biometric privacy suit

Law360 reports Shutterfly has reached a preliminary agreement to settle a biometric privacy lawsuit filed against it under Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). The parties reached the agreement over damages for alleged biometric data collection, storage, and processing without the required consent of the data subjects after private mediation; settlement terms were not disclosed.

One of two named plaintiffs was ordered to address the complaint in arbitration in a ruling last May, as her continued use of the service constituted consent to revised terms of service. The other named plaintiff did not have a Shutterfly account, and therefore never consented to the terms. The settlement agreement applies to both plaintiffs.