Amazon, Starbucks Face Class-Action Lawsuit Over Customer Data
Two Seattle giants — Amazon and Starbucks — have been accused of collecting customers’ personal information without first notifying them, in a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Seattle.
Lauren Rosenblatt, The Seattle Times
(TNS) — Two Seattle giants — Amazon and Starbucks — have been accused of collecting customers’ personal information without first notifying them, in a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Seattle.
The proposed class-action lawsuit alleges Amazon and Starbucks have violated a New York City law that requires companies to post signage near store entrances if the businesses are collecting customers’ biometric data, like fingerprints, handprints or the shape of a person’s body.
Amazon and Starbucks teamed up to open two contactless checkout coffee shops in the city during the past three years. The stores feature Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology, which uses machine learning paired with a network of sensors and cameras to track what customers pick up and charge them when they walk out, skipping the checkout line.
In January 2022, New York City enacted the Biometric Identifier Information Law, which requires businesses to tell customers if they are collecting personally identifiable information. Now, three New York residents are accusing Amazon and Starbucks of violating that law in a legal action they hope will grow to include most of the stores’ customers.
The lawsuit focuses on Amazon and Starbucks because the partnership is one of the most prominent cases of Amazon’s contactless checkout technology in the city, said Peter Romer-Friedman, an attorney based in Washington, D.C., and representing the plaintiffs in this case. Amazon is promoting the use of this technology throughout the country.
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“At a minimum, we think Amazon owes its customers an explanation about how it’s operating these systems before people enter — so that people can decide for themselves whether they want to provide measurements of the size and shape of their body as a condition of getting a sandwich,” he said.
Amazon said its technology does not collect biometric data that can be used to identify a specific shopper. Instead, it relies on broad, distinguishing features to differentiate between shoppers in the store at one time, the company said.
Amazon added that customers who use an app to enter the store agree to a privacy policy that allows Amazon to use cameras, sensors and other technology to gather information about their activity in the store.
