Honorlock Proctoring Software Collects Biometrics Illinois BIPA Class Action

During the Covid-19 pandemic, proctoring services were used by hundreds of educational and other institutions to permit students to take tests at their own premises, away from the risks of being among others in close quarters for one or more hours. Honorlock Incorporated is one such proctoring company, providing test-taking services for more than 300 institutions and a million students. But the complaint for this class action alleges that it violates the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) in collecting, using, and storing the biometrics of test-takers.

The class for this action is all individuals who live in Illinois and who had their biometrics collected, captured, received, or otherwise collected by Honorlock.

The company claims to “prioritize academic integrity” and to be “continually innovating to hinder cheating.” To do this, it uses the students’ computers and Google Chrome web browser to monitor them while they are taking tests.

Students at various educational institutions that they had already paid for a semester of learning were forced to use Honorlock and other proctoring systems to take tests to complete their semesters so that they could get credit for those semesters.

Honorlock monitors students during exams to detect cheating. The complaint alleges, “Its methods include collecting students’ IP addresses and web activity, tracking students’ web information through the use of cookies, and surveilling student activities using ‘a webcam video recording that includes desktop activity and audio recording.’”

But this webcam involves much more than a simple image of the student taking the test. First, “Honorlock scans facial geometry to verify the students’ identities. A student must submit to a scan of his or her face via the computer’s webcam and allow the software to compare this data to a scan of his or her photo ID.”

It doesn’t stop there. “[W]hile the student is taking an exam Honorlock continuously monitors facial geometry by detecting head movements and eye movements to determine whether the student is focused on the computer screen.” The “software also records the student’s voice using artificial intelligence that is sufficiently robust to detect specific words and flag suspicious behavior.”

However, for students who are residents of Illinois, BIPA requires that Honorlock—and other companies that wish to take, store, or use biometrics—do certain things beforehand. It requires that specific disclosure must be made to the biometric subject and the subject’s written consent must be obtained, before biometrics can be taken.

The complaint alleges that Honorlock does not provide adequate disclosures about “what biometrics are obtained, how the data is stored, and the specific purpose and length of term for which the data will be collected, stored, or used.”

Other BIPA provisions require that the company cannot sell, lease, trade, or otherwise profit from the biometrics collected, and that the biometrics cannot be disclosed or shared without the individual’s written consent.

The complaint alleges that Honorlock has violated BIPA.

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Privacy
Tags: BIPA, Taking/Storing/Using Biometric Data, Your Privacy