Target Can’t Escape Privacy Suit Over Facial Recognition Tools

Target Corp. must face allegations it collected shoppers’ biometric data without their knowledge to thwart shoplifting in violation of a state privacy law, a federal judge said.

Target customers filed a complaint against the retailer in May, accusing it of deploying facial recognition-enabled video surveillance systems in its stores that captured and stored facial geometry data of customers without their knowledge. Target didn’t publish any written policies about how long it could keep the biometric data or whether it would permanently destroy it, the complaint said, violating Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act.

Target argued in a motion to dismiss ...