Claude user sues Anthropic over facial scans and biometric privacy in identity verification

What happened

Chicago resident Jose Enrique Ortiz Colon filed a proposed class action against Anthropic, alleging that Claude's identity-verification flow violated Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). Colon says he was locked out of Claude until he verified his identity through third-party provider Persona, submitting a government-issued ID and a live facial image; the suit alleges facial geometry was scanned and compared with his driver's-license photo without the legally required written disclosures.

Details

• The complaint alleges Anthropic failed to tell users in writing how long biometric information would be retained and lacked the publicly available retention-and-destruction policy BIPA requires for private entities holding biometric identifiers.
• Illinois law treats scans of facial geometry as biometric identifiers, requiring written notice of purpose and duration, a written release, and a public retention policy.
• Colon seeks to represent similarly situated Illinois residents and requests statutory damages and other relief. Anthropic says it takes user privacy seriously and is reviewing the complaint.

Why it matters

A test of how state biometric-privacy protections apply to AI companies that condition access to powerful services on identity-verification systems that extract immutable biometric data; the outcome could shape disclosure, consent and retention practices across the industry.