A biometric data privacy win in court is followed by a related FTC investigation and lawsuit

Executives at facial recognition firm Clarifai may have sighed with relief in March 2021 when a judge agreed that they could not be sued for violating Illinois' biometric privacy law, but then the federal government came knocking. The Federal Trade Commission now wants to know how the face image that a woman posted on the OkCupid dating site ended up being used as training data by Clarifai without her consent or disclosing the transaction as required by Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act. Clarifai makes computer vision, deep learning AI and biometrics systems. Claiming that its investigation is being stonewalled by Match Group, owner of OkCupid, the FTC has filed suit (case number 1:22-mc-00054), according to Bloomberg Law. The government claims that OkCupid engaged in unfair and deceptive conduct by sharing biometric data with Clarifai in 2014.