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Fingerprint taken for Six Flags season pass could clear way for class-action lawsuit

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/fingerprint-needed-for-six-flags-season-pass-clears-way-for-class-action-lawsuit-2019-01-25

 

The fingerprint a teenager gave to get a Six Flags season pass was enough of an injury to let him launch a class-action case, Illinois’s top court concluded Friday.

 

The case could have big implications for privacy protections, while also unleashing a rollercoaster ride for businesses bracing for a spike in class-action suits, experts say.

 

The decision only focused on whether a mere thumbprint — and no other alleged harm — made him an “aggrieved” person eligible to even bring a case. It didn’t discuss whether the amusement park was at fault for taking the print.

 

The ruling comes amid intense focus on Americans’ increasing loss of control over their personal data, as security breaches seem to grow more common by the day. Meanwhile, class-action cases — though increasingly confined by recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings — are still something businesses have to deal with in a big way.

 

Friday’s Illinois Supreme Court case started with 14-year-old Alexander Rosenbach’s spring 2014 school trip to a Six Flags Great America SIX, +0.90% amusement park in Gurnee, Ill.

 

The eighth grader’s mom bought him a season pass ahead of time. Alexander arrived at the park and gave a thumbprint to claim his pass. Rosenbach’s mom never knew fingerprints would be part of the deal until her son told her later that day.

 

Rosenbach sued the theme park under the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act. The 2008 law says how data should be handled for things like fingerprints, voice matches and eye scans. The case was a proposed class-action case for anyone who was ever fingerprinted at that park.

 

Six Flags was wrong to get the print without first getting releases or flagging that such a scan would be necessary, Rosenbach’s lawyers said.

 

Six Flags countered that Alexander didn’t get tricked into giving his prints, and argued that his mom even accessed a website which described the tickets as “biometric” season passes.

 

Friday’s ruling overruled a lower court to say Rosenbach didn’t need to show an “actual injury” other than a violation of his rights under the privacy act. Civil liberty, privacy and consumer groups supported Rosenbach, saying that strict consequences for the mishandling of biometric data mattered more than ever.

 

Rebecca Glenberg, a senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, called the ruling “a victory for privacy rights in Illinois.”

 

The state’s 2008 privacy act doesn’t stop companies from collecting biometric data, but underscored the importance of having informed consent when getting the data. If business models didn’t take that into consideration, Glenberg said, “it seems that business model needs a closer look.”

 

“This statute is all about giving individuals control over their biometric information. We have seen over and over again how private companies collect this information and store and use it for purposes that the owner of the information has no clue about,” she said.

 

National and state business groups supported Six Flags, noting, among other things, that finger scans were often how employees now punched in and out.

 

They predicted a flood of cases if Illinois’s high court sided with Rosenbach.

 

Robert Cattanach, a partner at Minneapolis-based Dorsey & Whitney who advises companies on cybersecurity law, told MarketWatch the ruling was a break with “the traditional notion that you really have to have something go wrong” to have grounds to sue. “This is a pretty big departure.”

 

He predicted “copycat” lawsuits and other states following Illinois’s lead.

 

He acknowledged the importance of data security and compliance, but noted the costs to both businesses and consumers. For consumers, “while it may be in the short term ‘Oh wait, this is great,’ the costs just get passed on for defending these suits.”

 

Six Flags didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment, nor did lawyers for Rosenbach.

 

Six Flags isn’t the only theme park to use biometrics. Guests at Disney World DIS, +0.49% are typically asked to do “Ticket Tags,” where their fingerprint is scanned and linked with their ticket or an annual pass. Disney’s privacy policy explains that the company converts the fingerprint image into a numerical key and discards the photo of the fingerprint immediately, so fingerprints are not stored in its system. Guests have the option of using photo ID instead. Disney did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

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Interesting. I've never liked the fingerprint scanner at Six Flags but not on any privacy grounds, just because the technology isn't very good. It takes forever to get everybody to scan and really holds up the entrance line. My Pixel 3 has a fingerprint scanner that works really well, from almost any angle. I've tried to trick it and only rarely have had to scan a second time. If Six Flags had one like that, it'd get everyone through much faster.

 

It'll be interesting to see how this goes. I doubt the actual technology is going to be an issue. It'll come down to how the data are stored. I work with PII every day in my job, and a lot of you do too, and it isn't an issue as long as it's handled correctly. I don't know how Six Flags stores its data, and I'm sure anyone who does isn't going to post it publicly as that generally goes against most company privacy policies. But that's likely what the court will care about.

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It's not a fingerprint anyways. It's biometrics, which measures the size and length of your finger to identify you. The data is useless even if it was stolen.

 

Six Flags also has this on their website, which I assume is buried in the fine print when you purchase the pass:

 

https://www.sixflags.com/national/biometric-data-tos

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I don't see how the plaintiff will win this lawsuit. Six Flag's website clearly explains how biometrics are used, and gives a clear opt-out option. This lawsuit seems frivolous to me.

 

I wonder if the plaintiff realizes that the corporations have this information already. Datamining corporations already havea complete profile for him that can be sold and packaged to the highest bidder just by his daily online activity.

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It looks like a key word here is "without the parents permission." So in the future, they could probably do it as long as the parents attend with the kid for at least one visit, go to guest relations, and fill out some brief forms. So I don't see this really being huge blow to Six Flags. Truth be told, I think it makes sense to have some parental or guardian supervision for 14 year olds at parks anyway.

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I just saw the sign at SFOT and I "think" it has always been SF policy- "Children 15 and under must be accompanied by a Parent or Guardian". I believe that I have seen it on tickets and on the back of passes as well. IF- that is the case the plaintiff has no standing.... I think this will go away- maybe some cash and a few passes.

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No question this will be settled (or the case withdrawn or kicked). The question is how much the settlement is. Nobody would ever let this go to verdict. Yes, the instructions on the ticket may slightly decrease the size of the settlement -- but you also have to contend with the fact that its "fine print," a reasonable person wouldn't know to look for it, and its never actually enforced. If SF's lawyers pursued this as an argument, both sides would have to investigate and present evidence as to whether the policy is ever enforced. If it is never enforced, the evidence will be worthless. If it is aggressively enforced, and the plaintiff actively used subversion to break the rules, that will hurt the settlement as well (and possibly lead to a countersuit if the case isn't withdrawn). But we all know that no unaccompanied minors isn't enforced. Six Flags has tons of kids run around unsupervised.

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Does anyone else think the voice of Cyborg in Battle for Metropolis is fucking adorable? I mean, for someone who's meant to be tough (look at the Cyborg: Cyber Spin sign. He's like, a grown man there. And yet he has his BfM voice in the phone teaser.) he sure doesn't sound like it. He's happy and upbeat and talks his mouth off. He says he's the youngest member of the Justice League, but I don't think he's THAT young. And Bumper Robinson did a bad job at expressing emotion, "They're talking about capturing Superman!" sounds a bit panicked, sure, but it sounds more like he's excited. And don't get me started about the actual ride; two points at which he panics, but it does sound OK.

 

However, as far as words go, I will always know that the Cyborg animatronic is also a fucking savage. Listen closely to that cute voice and you'll hear savageness. He roasts everyone, even the Justice League Reserve Team members he's recruiting and greeting.

 

ETA: And The Flash. Good God, The Flash. "AI'VE GOT DIS"

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Does anyone else think the voice of Cyborg in Battle for Metropolis is fucking adorable? I mean, for someone who's meant to be tough (look at the Cyborg: Cyber Spin sign. He's like, a grown man there. And yet he has his BfM voice in the phone teaser.) he sure doesn't sound like it. He's happy and upbeat and talks his mouth off. He says he's the youngest member of the Justice League, but I don't think he's THAT young. And Bumper Robinson did a bad job at expressing emotion, "They're talking about capturing Superman!" sounds a bit panicked, sure, but it sounds more like he's excited. And don't get me started about the actual ride; two points at which he panics, but it does sound OK.

 

However, as far as words go, I will always know that the Cyborg animatronic is also a fucking savage. Listen closely to that cute voice and you'll hear savageness. He roasts everyone, even the Justice League Reserve Team members he's recruiting and greeting.

 

ETA: And The Flash. Good God, The Flash. "AI'VE GOT DIS"

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It looks like a key word here is "without the parents permission." So in the future, they could probably do it as long as the parents attend with the kid for at least one visit, go to guest relations, and fill out some brief forms. So I don't see this really being huge blow to Six Flags. Truth be told, I think it makes sense to have some parental or guardian supervision for 14 year olds at parks anyway.

When I read about this situation, I just had this image of a distracted mom and a bored, teenage Six Flags employee ushering guests through and instructing the 14-year-old to put their finger on the scanner before the mom realized what was happening. What I don't get is how you go from the moment when you realize your kid put their finger on the scanner without your consent to filing a lawsuit against Six Flags. Seriously, do you have something to hide or are you just that money-hungry/American white butthurt about everything (assuming this lady was white, but maybe not)?

I mean I don't have kids and obviously I go to a lot of theme parks but is it that difficult to realize that a. your kid is getting their finger scanned "without your consent" and b. Six Flags does this as well as Disney and a lot of theme parks?

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It looks like a key word here is "without the parents permission." So in the future, they could probably do it as long as the parents attend with the kid for at least one visit, go to guest relations, and fill out some brief forms. So I don't see this really being huge blow to Six Flags. Truth be told, I think it makes sense to have some parental or guardian supervision for 14 year olds at parks anyway.

When I read about this situation, I just had this image of a distracted mom and a bored, teenage Six Flags employee ushering guests through and instructing the 14-year-old to put their finger on the scanner before the mom realized what was happening. What I don't get is how you go from the moment when you realize your kid put their finger on the scanner without your consent to filing a lawsuit against Six Flags. Seriously, do you have something to hide or are you just that money-hungry/American white butthurt about everything (assuming this lady was white, but maybe not)?

I mean I don't have kids and obviously I go to a lot of theme parks but is it that difficult to realize that a. your kid is getting their finger scanned "without your consent" and b. Six Flags does this as well as Disney and a lot of theme parks?

 

If she's not comfortable with this, she better destroy all of the devices that she or her family use that connect to the internet. Everybody has all of their personal data already.

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