Returning to the Start? Federal BIPA Claims After TransUnion v. Ramirez

The Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, more commonly known as “BIPA,” was the first statute to protect biometric privacy in the United States when it was passed in 2008. Although Texas and Washington have since passed their own biometric privacy laws, and other states have protected biometric information as part of more general data privacy legislation, BIPA remains the most powerful such law in the country due to being the only biometric privacy law to contain a private right of action. BIPA has also proven to be an important precedent for other states, such as New York, that are currently proposing their own biometric privacy bills. Yet despite BIPA’s influential position in privacy law, complicated questions remain, such as when claims accrue, how BIPA interacts with the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act, and which statute of limitations applies. One such significant question was raised in TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez, in which the U.S. Supreme Court provided important guidance on federal standing for data privacy claims that could significantly affect the BIPA landscape and how other, future, biometric privacy laws are drafted and litigated