The International Business Times spoke with ACLU of Illinois' Legislative Director Mary Dixon about privacy concerns over biometrics – facial recognition technology used by applications including Facebook. Biometrics track unique human characteristics as a way to identify a specific individual. Facebook uses biometrics to automatically suggest specific people to tag in photos uploaded by its users. In 2008, the ACLU of Illinois lobbied to pass the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) which created important regulations on the use of biometric information including guidelines for required consent and prohibiting the sale of biometric data for profit. Because the technological landscape has shifted since 2008, privacy advocates are concerned that BIPA does not have the legal legs necessary to win against Facebook in court. Dixon says:

“I think we were ahead of the curve,” said Mary Dixon, legislative director for the ACLU of Illinois, which advanced the initiative. “I think it’d be hard to pass similar initiatives now given the intense lobby against some of the protections we were able to advance.”

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In a matter defined by the intersection of free speech and modern technology, the ACLU and the City of Peoria agreed yesterday to settle in a lawsuit dubbed “Twittergate” by media in Peoria.

The case involves Peoria native Jon Daniel who had his home raided, his property seized and was arrested after creating a Twitter account that parodied Peoria’s mayor. Mr. Daniel (pictured middle at right) will be awarded a cash settlement, and a directive from the City to the Peoria Police Department will make clear that parody and satire should never be the predicate for a criminal investigation. "Twittergate" began in March 2014, when Mr. Daniel created the Twitter account @peoriamayor. Created mainly for his own entertainment and the amusement of his friends, Mr. Daniel sent a series of tweets from the account – which he soon labeled parody – that used informal language, slang and expletives.

The Mayor of Peoria was not amused. He and members of city government, including police officers, worked to close the account, learn Mr. Daniel's identity and punish his speech with a criminal investigation, culminating in a search of Mr. Daniel’s home, the seizure of his property and placing Mr. Daniel under arrest.

This settlement marks an enormous victory for free speech, emphasizing our First Amendment protections for online speech and parody. We hope that this agreement will send a strong message that wrongful use of police power to suppress protected speech, even when it is critical or makes fun of public officials, is an abuse of power and is not acceptable.

Thank you for supporting our efforts to protect free speech.

• View the settlement (PDF)
• Read more about the case, Daniel v. Peoria