Coinbase faces class-action lawsuit in Illinois over biometric data collection

Mars Finance News, on May 13, three users from Illinois filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court, accusing Coinbase of violating the state's Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). The complaint alleges that Coinbase collected facial geometric data during the identity verification process without users' written consent and failed to disclose the specific data storage period and sharing details with third-party verification services like Jumio. The plaintiffs are seeking damages of $5,000 for intentional violations and $1,000 for negligent violations. Notably, this is the second time Coinbase has faced such a lawsuit. A similar case in 2023 ultimately went to arbitration, and the current plaintiffs claim that over 10,000 related arbitration requests have been dismissed due to the exchange's refusal to pay fees. This lawsuit comes at a sensitive time when Coinbase is already facing at least six lawsuits related to a customer service data breach. (Cointelegraph)