Certificate Clearing Corporation - CCC

03/24/2021

We know the value of people's biometric data is not easily measured, but these laws are critical in protecting us. CCC helps consumers recover money from these cases and supports strong privacy laws.

Under the guise of helping small businesses, lawmakers are trying to repeal or eviscerate Illinois’ pioneering Biometric Information Protection Act.

03/08/2021

After the historic $650M Facebook IL BIPA settlement, we know the TikTok BIPA Privacy class action should settle, but the real question is how much should TikTok pay?

The app allegedly uses facial recognition technology to collect and store users’ biometric data without the required written permission.

03/01/2021

Why File a Class Action Claim? (Part 2)

Bottom line:
-It’s your money
-You were wronged
-It’s low-effort cash

I understand you may have quite a few questions left. Simply put, there’s an easier way to get paid by selling your class action claim. CCC purchased hundreds of claims in the FB IL BIPA settlement and those eligible were paid within 60 days.

The class action process can take years to settle. Even if you need money, that settlement check isn’t likely to show up in time to solve your problems. And, sometimes the check isn’t a check at all. The payoff may be in some other form that seems far less appealing.

Often, there’s a quicker and easier way to take advantage of your class eligibility. CCC purchases most types of class action claims; from securities to business and consumer settlements we want to show you why we are the experts. That means you can provide your information, sign over your claim, and get paid now--not several months down the road. We look forward to buying more claims from consumers and stay tuned to our page for new opportunities.

02/22/2021

Why File a Class Action Claim?

Have you ever filed a class action claim? If so, you’re in the minority. The response rate in most consumer class action cases is very low. For instance, in the recent Illinois Facebook Biometric class action, about 1.4 million people filed claims. That may sound like a lot, but about 7 million were eligible.

It’s a strange phenomenon. The average person will pick up a muddy $5 bill on the sidewalk, but nearly 80% of those eligible for the Facebook settlement said, “No thanks” to filling out a form to collect a $350 check. Albeit it can take months or years to pay out, filing a claim can take just minutes.

Some people aren’t sure what’s required of them and so shy away from the process. Others assume there won’t be much money involved and so it’s not worth the time. In fact, there are good reasons to file that claim. For instance:

- It’s your money. If you didn’t opt out of the suit, then a share of that settlement or verdict is yours. If you don’t claim it, someone else will get your money.

- You were wronged. If you’re part of a successful class action, something happened that shouldn’t have happened. Maybe you didn’t suffer direct damages--that’s true for many people in the Facebook case. But, someone you did business with broke the rules. They owed you better. And, the class action helps ensure that
they’ll do better in the future.

- It’s low-effort cash. By the time you’re invited to file a claim, it’s all over but the paperwork. The question you’re being asked is basically, “Should we send you some money?” There’s no downside to taking it. If you’re fortunate enough that Facebook’s $350 doesn’t mean anything to you, you should still be the one to decide where it will do the most good.

Reach out with questions you may have about a case!

01/26/2021

The hurdle of notifying class members in the Apple Device Performance Litigation should have been a simple one to overcome considering Apple has the ability to ping their users’ devices as is the case with other update alerts. However, here is something to consider, the settlement administrator claimed a victory in successfully noticing over 90,000,000 people with an email but failed to provide detail such as how many people opened or clicked the email. In the end, 3.28M filed a claim and roughly 2.3 will be approved.

Keep in mind, corporations alone filed over one million claims, but interestingly only 153,246 were initially approved; that is less than 15% and one particular issue that arose with corporate claims was the matter of attestation. An attestation is simply a declaration that something is true. Corporate claimants submitted attestations regarding diminished device performance that were signed by outside counsel or a third-party claim filer and now Apple is challenging whether these attestations are sufficient. If the Judge rules they are sufficient then an additional 164,053 claims may be approved. Please reach out with questions about the case and see a breakdown of claims filed per the administrator's update.

01/25/2021

Resumen rápido: Illinois fue uno de los primeros estados en aprobar leyes de privacidad biométricas y otros han seguido su ejemplo ahora que ven cuánto se benefician las empresas de estos datos. Facebook llegó a un acuerdo por $650 millones por posibles violaciones de las leyes de privacidad y nos preguntamos cuánto tiempo antes de que Instagram se enfrente a las consecuencias y resuelve la demanda BIPA contra ellos?

La Legislatura del Estado de Illinois aprobó la Ley de Privacidad de Información Biométrica (BIPA) en 2008 para proteger contra la recolección y almacenamiento ilegal de información biométrica de una persona en Illinois. En 2020, el abogado de los demandantes presentó una demanda colectiva contra Facebook alegando que Facebook violó BIPA al almacenar ilegalmente las plantillas biométricas de cara de los usuarios que fueron etiquetados en fotos sin su consentimiento. Facebook resolvió la demanda por $650 millones después de ser reglado por el juez que una oferta anterior por $550 millones no era suficiente dada una pena mínima de $1,000 por violación si se demostraba culpable en la corte.

Sorprendentemente, a principios de 2020, Facebook informó de 2.47 millones de usuarios activos diarios y 3.14 millones de usuarios activos mensuales en todas sus las redes sociales, por ejemplo, Facebook, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp y Oculus. Dado ese volumen de usuarios, no es sorprendente que Facebook haya llegado a un acuerdo en lugar de enfrentar una pena multimillonaria si se demuestra culpable en los tribunales.

La compra de Instagram en 2012 fue fácil para Facebook, ya que vio a sus usuarios pasar más tiempo y atención fuera de Facebook y en Instagram. Lo que es más importante reconocer es que con esta compra Facebook ganara cuota de mercado y datos de usuarios en el espacio de las redes sociales.

Al igual que todas las transacciones corporativas de alto perfil, Facebook tuvo que superar las preocupaciones antimonopolio, pero ahora se enfrentan a otra demanda de clase de BIPA acusándolos de una vez más recoger ilegalmente plantillas de cara biométricas. Esta vez se relaciona con los usuarios de Instagram.

Dada la cantidad de datos que Facebook valora, es fácil imaginar que sabían exactamente qué información estaba recopilando Instagram al analizar fotos o contenido de vídeo. En términos generales, Facebook debería seguir fortaleciendo sus póliza de privacidad, pero hacerlo podría costarles mucho en ganancias. Te dejo con una breve cita del juez en el caso BIPA de Facebook comentando sobre las empresas implicadas y donde deja la puerta abierta para futuras demandas contra estas empresas:

“La otra cosa que me preocupa es el alcance de las empresas liberadas. Incluye todas las empresas afiliadas… Quiero decir, ya sabes, eso es Instagram. Eso es Oculus. Eso es WhatsApp... no estoy dispuesto a dejar que esas compañías se desanillen en este caso, donde no eran acusados, las demandas en contra de ellos no fueron articuladas, y la cantidad que la gente agraviada va a obtener es de $150. Eso no me parece bien.”

01/25/2021

Another lawsuit where a large corporation settles, and rightfully so given Walmart would be required to pay $1,000 to $5,000 per eligible employee if proven guilty in court; that is roughly $22M- $110M instead of the $10M they paid

Walmart has reached a $10 million settlement with employees in a class action lawsuit in Illinois over its collection of biometric data

01/25/2021

개인 생체정보 보호법(BIPA)은 개인의 생체정보를 불법적으로 수집·저장하는 것을 막기 위해 2008년 통과됐습니다. 수년 동안 이 법은 조용히 시행되었지만, 2020년 페이스북은 사진에 태그가 붙은 사용자들의 얼굴 인식 데이터를 동의 없이 불법 보관해왔다는 혐의를 받아 개인 생체정보보호법의 역사적인 집단소송에 대해 합의를 본 바 있습니다. 페이스북은 5억 달러에 합의를 제안했었으나, 유죄가 인정되면 당초 한 건의 위반당 최소 천 달러를 배상해야 하는
상황에서 그것은 충분하지 않다며 판사에게 꾸지람을 듣고 6억 5천만 달러(약 8천억원)를 지급했습니다. 놀랍게도, 2020년 초에 페이스북은 페이스북, 인스타그램, 페이스북 메신저, 왓츠앱 및 오큘러스와 같은 모든 제품에 대해 총 24억 7천만 명의 일간순이용자(DAU)와 31억 4천만 명의 월간순이용자가 현재 사용하고 있다고 보고했습니다. 이 같은 이용자 수를 감안할 때 법정에서 유죄가 입증될 경우 수십억 달러 규모의 배상금이 발생할 가능성이 있었던 페이스북이 합의에
이른 것은 놀라운 일이 아닙니다.

페이스북이 얼마나 많은 데이터를 저장하는지와 그 데이터들의 판매로 이익을 얻으려는 목적도 이제 분명해졌습니다. 특히 페이스북은 일찌감치 사용자 데이터의 가치가 어느 정도인지를 인식해 웹 분석업체 ‘오나보’를 써서 페이스북의 경쟁사를 감시하도록 하여 시장점유율을 확대하려 했고, 결국 십억달러의 인스타그램 인수 과정을 오나보에 전적으로 맡겼습니다.

2012년 인스타그램의 구매는 기존 페이스북 사용자들이 사진 및 영상 기반 경쟁자들의 플랫폼으로 이탈하는 것을 목격해왔기 때문에 당연한 수순이었지만, 더 중요한 것은 그것이 그들이 더 많은 시장점유율을 얻을 수 있었고 또 인스타그램의 데이터를 얻는 방법이었다는 것입니다. 독점 금지에 대한 우려를 극복하는 것이 페이스북에게는 매우 중요한 일이지만, 이제 그들은 인스타그램 사용자들의 얼굴 인식 데이터를 불법적으로 수집한 혐의로 또 다시 개인 생체정보 보호법 집단 소송에 직면해 있습니다. 페이스북이 데이터를 얼마나 중시하는지를 감안하면 인스타그램이 사진이나 영상 콘텐츠를 분석할 때 어떤 정보를 수집하고 있는지 그들이 정확히 알고 있었다는 것은 상상하기 쉽습니다. 일반적으로 말해서, 페이스북이 오늘날 거대기업임을 감안할 때 개인정보 보호정책을 계속해서 강화해야 마땅하겠지만, 그렇게 함으로써 잠재적인 손실로 이익이 바닥을 치게 될 수도 있습니다. 페이스북 개인 생체정보 보호법 소송 사건에서 판사가 관련 회사에 대해 언급하는 짧은 인용문을 남깁니다:

"제가 또 우려하는 것은 석방된 당사자들의 규모입니다. 여기에는 '페이스북의 자매 및 계열사'가 모두 포함됩니다. 제 말은, 모두 아시다시피, 이건 인스타그램이에요. 오큘러스입니다. 왓츠앱입니다... 저는그들이 피고인이 아닌, 그들에 대한 주장이 연결되지 않은 이 사건에서 이 회사들이 처벌을 면하도록 해줄 의향이 없습니다. 억울한 사람들이 받게 될 액수는 150달러입니다. 제가 보기엔 그건 옳지 않은 것 같아요."

01/21/2021

Key takeaway: Illinois was one of the first states to pass biometric privacy laws and others have followed suit now that they see how much companies profit from this data. Facebook settled for $650M and we wonder how long before Instagram faces the music and settles?

The Illinois State Legislature passed the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) in 2008 to protect against the unlawful collection and storage of a person’s biometric information in Illinois. In 2020 plaintiff’s counsel filed a class action lawsuit against Facebook alleging that Facebook violated BIPA by illegally storing the biometric face templates of users who were tagged in photos without their consent. Facebook settled the class action lawsuit for $650 million after being scolded by the Judge that an earlier offer to settle for $500 million was not enough given a $1,000 minimum penalty per violation if proven guilty.

Remarkably, in early 2020, Facebook reported 2.47 billion daily active users and 3.14 billion monthly active users across all of its offerings—e.g., Facebook, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and Oculus. Given that user volume, it is not surprising that Facebook settled instead of potentially facing a multibillion-dollar penalty if proven guilty in court.
It is also now clear just how much data Facebook stores and all for the purpose of profiting from its sale. Facebook, in particular, recognized early on how much their user data was worth, so they tried to expand their market share by hiring, Onavo, a web analytics firm, to assist with the surveillance of Facebook’s competitors and eventually relied on Onavo to work through the process of acquiring Instagram for $1B.

The purchase of Instagram in 2012 was natural for Facebook to do as it saw its users transition more of their time and attention away from Facebook to Instagram. More importantly the acquisition was a way for Facebook to gain market share and user data in the social media space. Like all high-profile corporate transactions, Facebook had to overcome antitrust concerns, but now they are facing another BIPA class action accusing them of once again illegally collecting biometric face templates. This time it relates to Instagram users. Given how much Facebook values data, it is easy to imagine they knew exactly what information Instagram was collecting when analyzing photos or video content. Generally speaking, Facebook should continue to strengthen its privacy policies given the behemoth it is today but doing so could potentially cost them dearly in bottom line profit. I leave you with a short quote from the Judge in the Facebook BIPA case commenting on the companies involved:

“The other thing I'm concerned about is the scope of the parties released. It includes all of… 'Facebook's sister and affiliated companies.' I mean, you know, that's Instagram. That's Oculus. That's WhatsApp...I am not willing to let those companies off the hook in this case, where they weren't defendants, claims against them were not articulated, and the amount that the aggrieved people are going to get is $150. That just doesn't seem right to me."

https://legiscan.com/NY/text/A00027/2021?fbclid=IwAR2vX5kOMgTS2NKpBRwXctkYZU2OWUnWAw4NcI1Mq6r_fKfR_nl_JiUPK24

01/20/2021

CCC knows how broad the class action space can be, but antitrust matters are particularly interesting to us since the key Defendants tend to stay at the top of their industry even after settling. Reach out if you need help filing a claim in the Broiler Chicken Antitrust Settlement.

Chick-fil-A, the Georgia-based fast food giant, has filed suit against a string of major poultry processors, including some based in Georgia, claiming price fixing.