Skip to main content

Delivery robots scan faces and collect customer biometric data, lawsuit alleges

By
A pink and white delivery robot rolls down a tree-lined sidewalk.

Two Chicago men are suing delivery robot companies Coco Robotics and Serve Robotics for allegedly collecting their biometric information without consent.

The two separate class action lawsuits were filed earlier this month. Both claim that the robots' external cameras and internal LiDAR technology are used to scan and collect measurements of customers' faces and hands as they approach the devices. That data was then retained and used to train AI systems, according to the plaintiffs, and attached to personally identifiable information like names and addresses.

SEE ALSO: Judge asked to toss 60-year prison sentence over use of Flock cameras

One suit filed against Coco Robotics claims the company didn't disclose to customers that its device would scan and collect information, thereby violating Illinois privacy laws. It also extends the privacy violation claim to the use of remote human operators, who were allegedly able to watch the delivery and scanning in real-time.

The two cases similarly hinge on the fact that neither customer chose to use delivery robots will ordering food, but were instead assigned to robots by the company after placing their orders. Their data was then sold to third parties, including OpenAI, the plaintiffs claim. The lawsuits cite company disclosures indicating that video and sensor data can be licensed for AI training.

Both Serve Robotics and Coco Robotics provide robotic delivery services for popular food delivery platforms, including DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. The companies have denied the claims in the lawsuits, stating that the data they collect is navigational and shared with third parties to improve their services.

"This lawsuit fundamentally misunderstands our technology, we have not collected biometric data in Chicago," a spokesperson for Coco Robotics said in a statement.

A Serve Robotics spokesperson said that the company does not use sensor data to identify customers or create biometric profiles.



from Mashable https://ift.tt/9XT1iNF
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Nintendo Switch has been the US’s bestselling console for 23 straight months

By
Photo by James Bareham / The Verge It’s been a good two years for the Nintendo Switch. According to Nintendo, the gaming tablet has been the bestselling console in the US for 23 straight months. And according to data from the NPD Group, it just had its best October ever, moving 735,926 units of both the Switch and Switch Lite in the US. The company says that represents a 136 percent increase compared to last year. To date, the Switch has sold 22.5 million units in the US, and last week Nintendo revealed that more than 68 million units have been sold globally . “We’re excited about our momentum,” says Nick Chavez, Nintendo of America’s SVP of sales and marketing. Chavez puts the company’s big October down to two main factors. One is a better supply of stock; this year in particular, it’s often been hard to find a Switch on store shelves. This has only been exacerbated by increased demand due to a combination of the pandemic and the breakout success of Animal Crossing: New Horizons . ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Instagram accidentally reinstated Pornhub’s banned account

By
After years of on-and-off temporary suspensions, Instagram permanently banned Pornhub’s account in September. Then, for a short period of time this weekend, the account was reinstated. By Tuesday, it was permanently banned again. “This was done in error,” an Instagram spokesperson told TechCrunch. “As we’ve said previously, we permanently disabled this Instagram account for repeatedly violating our policies.” Instagram’s content guidelines prohibit  nudity and sexual solicitation . A Pornhub spokesperson told TechCrunch, though, that they believe the adult streaming platform’s account did not violate any guidelines. Instagram has not commented on the exact reasoning for the ban, or which policies the account violated. It’s worrying from a moderation perspective if a permanently banned Instagram account can accidentally get switched back on. Pornhub told TechCrunch that its account even received a notice from Instagram, stating that its ban had been a mistake (that message itse...
Post a Comment
Read more

MVP versus EVP: Is it time to introduce ethics into the agile startup model?

By
Anand Rao Contributor Share on Twitter Anand Rao is global head of AI at PwC . The rocket ship trajectory of a startup is well known: Get an idea, build a team and slap together a minimum viable product (MVP) that you can get in front of users. However, today’s startups need to reconsider the MVP model as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) become ubiquitous in tech products and the market grows increasingly conscious of the ethical implications of AI augmenting or replacing humans in the decision-making process. An MVP allows you to collect critical feedback from your target market that then informs the minimum development required to launch a product — creating a powerful feedback loop that drives today’s customer-led business. This lean, agile model has been extremely successful over the past two decades — launching thousands of successful startups, some of which have grown into billion-dollar companies. However, building high-performing product...
Post a Comment
Read more