IBM ‘Faces’ Dataset Privacy Claims Can Move Forward, Judge Says

International Business Machines Corp. must face claims that it violated an Illinois privacy law with its “diversity in faces” dataset for studying racial and gender bias in facial recognition technology.

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois mostly denied IBM’s motion to dismiss, ruling Tuesday that discovery is needed to assess company claims that applying the privacy law would violate state and federal laws. The court granted the company’s motion to dismiss two counts.

“We are pleased that the court dismissed some of plaintiffs’ claims at this early stage,” said Doug Shelton, an IBM spokesperson. “We are ...