Disney Sued Over Facial Recognition Use at Parks

Disney is being sued over use of facial recognition technology at its amusement parks. The class action lawsuit alleges that the entertainment brand does not adequately inform guests that it scans people's faces at the entrances to Disneyland and California Adventure. The complaint is seeking at least $5 million on behalf of park visitors.

"Guests should be able to expressly opt in to this type of sensitive facial recognition technology with written consent — the onus of privacy rights should not be on the victim," writes Blake Yagman, a lawyer for the proposed class of visitors, in the complaint. "Given how sensitive facial recognition data is, explicit written consent should be required to protect the privacy guests at Disney Theme Parks."

Disney introduced facial recognition systems at the two parks in April. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney's policy is to dispose of the data it acquires from those platforms within 30 days. However, the suit argues that may not be accurate "given the biometric information is compared to when guests first bought tickets or annual passes and associated their pictures with those tickets or passes."