Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker Weakens State Privacy Law On Biometric Data, Undermining Consumer And Employee Rights

While it tends to get buried by the press, one thing is very true: the U.S. is too corrupt to pass a federal privacy law. For as long as the internet has existed, policymakers have prioritized making money over the common good and public safety. The end result is exactly what you’d expect: a steady parade of scandals that get more and more dangerous as the scope and scale of mindless data collection expands.

Instead of passing new, better, smarter privacy laws for the internet era, we’re instead usually focused on weakening the ones we already have. Or prioritizing the interests of the wealthy. Like recently, when Congress included language in the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill that made it harder than ever for the public to track private jet travel.

In Illinois, Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker has also signed off on a new privacy bill that also takes things in the wrong direction. SB2979 significantly curbs the penalties corporations face for improperly collecting and using fingerprints and other biometric data from workers and consumers.

The law reverses a 2023 Illinois Supreme Court ruling holding companies liable for each instance of privacy abuses related to the same data set. It also reverses a separate state court decision that gave impacted employees a five year window to sue over violations, instead of the one year window corporations preferred.

Pritzker knows it’s a shitty, corrupt choice that undermines consumer and employee privacy. He didn’t bother to announce the law, and wouldn’t respond to inquiries from outlets like Reuters.

The U.S. is awash in privacy scandals because corporations and executives aren’t afraid of the penalties of lax security and flimsy privacy standards. They view small class actions or fines — which are immensely disproportionate to the money made from abuses — as simply the cost of doing business. It’s why a company like T-Mobile can be hacked eight times in five years and never learn its lesson.

Meaningful, well crafted privacy laws (not that we’ve seen many of those in recent years) empower workers and consumers, and restore faith in markets. But instead of meaningful reform, there’s no shortage of well-lobbied politicians dedicated to taking things the wrong direction, who are then absolutely nowhere to be found when the real-world harms arrive.