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US Judge Rejects Suit Over Face Scanning for Video Game (newyorklawjournal.com)
Two athletes whose images were scanned for a video game have been bounced from court on their claim that the game maker violated a law protecting biometric information. From a report: Brother-and-sister video basketball players Ricardo and Vanessa Vigil were leading a class action that claimed Take-Two Interactive, which manufactured the NBA 2K15 game, ran afoul of an Illinois law that governs biometric identifiers such as retina or iris scans, fingerprints, voiceprints, or scans of hand and face geometry. The Vigils agreed to have their faces scanned to create digital avatars for NBA 2K15, but said they didn't know their images would be available in unencrypted form online. They tried to hold Take-Two liable under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) in Vigil v. Take-Two Interactive Software, 15-cv-8211. Judge John Koetl of the Southern District of New York dismissed the proposed class action suit filed by brother and sister Ricardo and Vanessa Vigil, saying the plaintiffs didn't show "concrete" harm from the way the gaming company stores and uses their biometric data.
Why are you suing over a violation of Illinois law in New York?
Regardless, the judge's reasoning is absurd - if Take Two violated the law the plaintiff's don't need to prove further harm. Violation of the law is the harm. The law exists to prevent such use of a person's biometric data because the state of Illinois has determined such use to be harmful.
The extent to which damages can be awarded can be decided in part by looking at harm caused, punitive assessments set forth in the law, potential harm caused (once the biometric cat spills the beans, you can't get the digital Humpty Dumpty back in the lamp), etc. A ruling on the violation of the law is a separate issue.