Pandora Jewelry Facial Scans for Virtual Try-Ons Illinois BIPA Class Action

Pandora Jewelry, LLC and Pandora EComm, LLC are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Danish jewelry company Pandora A/S. The Pandora website which sells the jewelry offers a Virtual Try-On feature that allows website visitors to see various pieces of jewelry superimposed on an image of themselves. Up until recently, the complaint for this class action alleges, this Virtual Try-On feature was available to persons in Illinois, even though the complaint claims it did not meet the requirements of that state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).

The class for this action is all Illinois residents whose biometric data was captured, collected, received, or otherwise obtained or stored by Pandora through its app during the applicable statute of limitations. (Note that although users can also take images of their hands, to try on rings, this class action covers only those who provided images of their faces.)

Biometrics are different than other forms identification in that they are unique and permanent features that cannot be changed. BIPA imposes certain requirements on private companies that wish to collect, store, use, or disclose biometrics:

• They must tell the subject in writing that their biometrics will be collected or stored.
• They must tell the subject in writing of the specific purpose or length of time for which the biometrics will be stored.
• They must get a written release from the subject.
• They must put out a publicly-available written retention schedule and guidelines for permanently destroying the biometrics.

The complaint alleges that Pandora does none of these things before it invites website users to “Try It On” with a link on the webpage for certain jewelry. If users click this link, the complaint alleges, they may then choose to try it “On Me.”

If they are on a computer, the complaint claims, they are given a QR code to scan with their smartphones that takes them to a website owned by yRuler, Inc., called tangiblee.com. If they came to the site on their smartphones, the complaint says, they will be asked to give tangiblee.com access to their camera and then directed to take a picture of their face. The Virtual Try-On feature then scans their facial geometry in order to figure out how to place the jewelry.

In a 2021 press release, the complaint alleges, yRuler said it stored this data “for a short period of time” but did not say specifically how long that was. The complaint claims that Pandora also does not try to obtain informed consent from its users before taking their facial geometry, and also does not publish any kind of retention schedule that applies to this information.

The complaint alleges that Pandora removed the Virtual Try-On capability from computers and smartphones that its websites determine are located in Illinois, while still offering it in other locations.

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