Some Disney parks visitors say the company is illegally collecting their biometric information.
A new class action lawsuit filed against The Walt Disney Company alleges that Disneyland and Disney California Adventure Park, both in California, are not properly disclosing the company’s biometric collection policies.
The lawsuit alleges that when Disney started using facial recognition at park entrances, the company didn’t disclose these practices to visitors. The filing notes that the company collects biometric information for children as well as adult visitors.
“While Disney publicly states ‘[t]he security, integrity, and confidentiality of your information are extremely important to us, no security measures are perfect or impenetrable,’ it appears visitors cannot discern which of the entrances into Disney Theme Parks actually are the ones to clearly avoid to ‘opt-out’ of facial recognition,” the filing says.
There is a separate entrance for those who do not want to opt-in to the facial recognition technology.
Disney did not immediately respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment.
The lawsuit seeks $5 million in damages for class members and suggests that Disney should require written consent from visitors before implementing facial recognition technology.
While Disney has claimed in other forums that it deletes biometric data after 30 days, the lawsuit alleges that, because the company acknowledges that it compares entry scans to photos uploaded when passes are purchased, the timeframe seems inaccurate.
Disney uses biometrics for its Magic Band and PhotoPass programs as well, according to The Hollywood Reporter, which first published news of the lawsuit.
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