Amazon & Starbucks Biometric Surveillance Litigation (Mallouk v. Amazon & Starbucks)
On June 7, 2023, Suzanne Mallouk, Alfredo Rodriguez Perez, and Arjun Dhawan filed a class action filed a proposed class action lawsuit claiming that Amazon.com and Starbucks failed to notify customers that their New York City-based stores that use Amazon’s “Just Walk Out” technology collect and share the biometric data of customers in violation of New York City’s Biometric Identifier Information Law, which requires commercial establishments to post clear and conspicuous signs disclosing when they collect, convert, store, retain, or share consumers’ biometric identifier information. The lawsuit also claims that Amazon and Starbucks illegally shared customers’ biometric data in violation of the same law, which prohibits sharing or selling biometric identifier information for anything of value.
Eight Amazon Go stores and two Starbucks stores in Manhattan currently use the “Just Walk Out” technology to track each customer’s movements and purchases once customers enter the gated areas of the stores. They also take palm images of customers who enter those areas of the stores with a palm signature.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington on behalf of two Amazon Go store customers and a Starbucks-Amazon Go store customer and proposed classes that contain tens of thousands of customers of the New York-City based Amazon Go stores and Starbucks-Amazon Go stores. The complaint alleges that from January 2022 to March 13, 2023, Amazon and Starbucks failed to post any signs stating that their NYC-based stores with “Just Walk Out” technology collect or share customers’ biometric data. On March 13, 2023, Amazon and Starbucks allegedly took the additional step of posting signs that state that they only collect biometric data from customers who opt into the optional palm scanner program that Amazon and Starbucks operate at their stores that use Just Walk Out technology. However, as the lawsuit alleges, Amazon and Starbucks collect biometric data on all customers who enter the gated areas of the Amazon Go and Starbucks-Amazon Go stores—even those customers who refuse to use the palm scanner—namely information on the shape and size of each customer’s body.
The plaintiff and proposed class are represented by PRF Law, Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP), a non-profit that works to stop mass surveillance, and Pollock Cohen LLP, Bursor & Fisher, PA, and the Riverside Law Group.
The case is known as Mallouk v. Amazon.com, Inc. and Starbucks Corporation, No. 23 Civ. 00852 (W.D. Wash.), and is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.
Case Documents
Media
Lawrence Bonk, Amazon just walked out on its self-checkout technology: The company is removing Just Walk Out from Fresh grocery stores in the US, Engadget (Apr. 3, 2024).
Leif Weatherby, Amazon’s ‘Just Walk Out’ Tech Is a Privacy Nightmare, Daily Beast (Aug. 14, 2023).
Lauren Rosenblatt, Amazon, Starbucks face WA class-action lawsuit over customer data, Seattle Times (June 8, 2023).
Kevin Collier, Amazon sued for not telling New York store customers about tracking biometrics, NBC News (Mar. 17, 2023).
Wyatte Grantham-Phillips, Amazon sued over biometric information collection, tracking in New York Amazon Go stores, USA Today (Mar. 17, 2023).
Faris Tanyos, Amazon Go stores in New York City didn't properly alert customers they were being biometrically tracked, lawsuit says, CBS News (Mar. 18, 2023).
Skye Witley, Amazon Sued Over NYC Go Store Collection of Palm, Body Scans, Bloomberg Law (Mar. 16, 2023).
Adeja Shivonne, Amazon sued for using facial recognition on New Yorkers without permission, FOX5 New York (Mar. 17, 2018).
