Retail

Illinois man sues Home Depot over facial recognition at self-checkout

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September 10, 2025

A Chicago man has filed a class-action lawsuit against Home Depot, alleging the company is illegally using facial recognition technology at its self-checkout kiosks without customer consent. The lawsuit, filed on Aug. 1 by Benjamin Jankowski, claims the practice violates the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, according to a Yahoo! News report.

According to the complaint, Jankowski claims he noticed a green box around his face on the self-checkout screen during a visit to a Chicago store, which he alleges indicated a biometric scan was being performed. The lawsuit asserts that Home Depot failed to obtain written consent from customers or publicly disclose its data retention policies, both of which are required by BIPA.

Home Depot had previously announced in 2023 that it was rolling out "computer vision" to assist employees with inventory, but the lawsuit alleges the technology was later expanded to self-checkouts to help mitigate theft without explicit customer notification.

The suit, which seeks to represent all individuals whose facial geometry was collected in Home Depot's 76 Illinois stores, seeks $5,000 for each alleged violation. Other states, including Texas and Washington, also have comprehensive biometric privacy laws.