Facebook face-scanning privacy class case cleared for trial

San Francisco: Facebook Inc. failed to undo a ruling that allows millions of its users to band together in a lawsuit accusing the social network of gathering and storing biometric data without consent, potentially exposing the company to billions of dollars in damages.

A federal appeals court in San Francisco on Thursday rejected the company’s request to block the privacy suit from proceeding as a class action on behalf of Illinois Facebook users going back to 2011 whose photos were tagged and collected in a company-controlled database.

The decision exposes the company to potentially huge penalties under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act of 2008, which provides for fines of $1,000 to $5,000 each time a person’s image is used without consent.