Business
Crain’s Headlines: Suit Claims Google Violated Illinois Privacy Law
The same Illinois privacy law that recently led Facebook to settle a class-action lawsuit for $550 million could trip up Google as well.
An Illinois man sued the search giant this week alleging the company violated a 2008 state law related to facial recognition of photos.
He argues Google collected biometric data from his facial features in photos he uploaded to the site without his consent.
The complaint was filed less than two weeks after Facebook agreed to its penalty for the same practice.
Attorneys in that case said each Illinois Facebook user could receive $200 or more as part of the settlement.
In other Chicago-area business news:
Seattle-based consulting firm Slalom says it plans to go on a hiring spree in Chicago.
The company said it will hire more than 300 new developers and consultants in the city with a goal of growing its local workforce to 1,000 people by the end of 2020.
Chicago is the business and tech advisory firm’s second-biggest office after it added 200 people between 2016 and 2018 and doubled the size of its office at the Aon Center.
Slalom was founded in 2001 and has over 8,000 employees across 35 markets worldwide.
And finally, Chicago’s former transportation commissioner has landed a new gig running one of the city’s prominent civic organizations.
Rebekah Scheinfeld has been tapped as the new CEO of the Civic Consulting Alliance.
The group works on a pro-bono basis helping newly elected officials navigate transitions and big projects.
Among other projects, it’s working on the Chicago Police Department’s consent decree compliance and Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi’s valuation reforms.
Scheinfeld spent five years running CDOT and was chief planning officer at the CTA before that.
Crain’s Headlines is a joint production between WTTW and Crain’s Chicago Business. It airs every Monday through Thursday on the WTTW News program “Chicago Tonight.”
