Amazon is being sued for collecting customer data without prior notice

The technology company was sued in the past few hours in New York for collecting biometric data from its customers without prior notice in its physical stores in the city, known as Amazon Go.

(See also: An important platform that reveals the most powerful mobile phones in the world)

The class action, led by a customer and supported by the Surveillance Technology Watchdog Organization (STOP) – which refuses to use this recognition technology -, It was filed Thursday in the courts of the Southern District of New York.

According to the complaint, Amazon did not comply with a regulation passed in New York in January 2021, which states that organizations that collect, store, or share biometric identification information of their customers must report the practice before people access the organizations.

“New York City has made it clear that consumers have the right to know when merchants collect their biometric data, so that consumers can decide whether to shop at those stores or further investigate those establishments’ practices before making a purchase. They allow their biometric data to be collected,” the text sent to courts.

Read also

The lawsuit alleges that in those Amazon companies, The customer takes the products and leaves without going through the cashier, With biometric recognition technology that charges users automatically.

To make this possible, Amazon Go stores continuously collect and use biometric information from customers, including through palm scanning to identify customers.

“Taking our data without prior notice is not appropriate, it’s scary. We have a right to know when our biometric data is being used, and it is appalling that one of the largest corporations in the world could so flagrantly ignore the law.” STOP’s director, Albert Fox Kahn, said in a statement.