Walmart recorded your voiceprint when you called customer service.
Did not tell you.
Did not ask you.
Built a voice profile.
Stored it in a database.
Then a second Walmart sued them for recording warehouse workers’ voiceprints through headsets.
Then a third lawsuit for facial recognition in stores.
Three biometric systems.
One company.
All being sued at the same time.
McDonald’s. Applebee’s. Chipotle. Domino’s. Wingstop.
All recorded voiceprints during pizza orders.
Verizon enrolled customers in voice ID without asking.
Your voiceprint cannot be changed.
Your face cannot be changed.
If Walmart’s database gets breached your voice is compromised forever.
Every future authentication system you use is now at risk.
The voiceprint is not a password.
It is a biometric identifier.
And it is sitting in a Walmart database.
This is only illegal in Illinois.
BIPA is the only US law that lets you sue.
In 47 states companies can collect your fingerprints face and voice.
With zero legal consequence.
The customer service call you made five years ago.
Was a biometric harvesting operation.
You just found out.
Walmart just got sued for secretly recording customer voiceprints when they called customer service.
But here's the full picture because this story is bigger than one lawsuit.
Walmart is currently being sued for biometric data collection three separate ways simultaneously:
— customer voiceprints captured during service calls.
— warehouse worker voiceprints collected via headsets to track inventory and monitor workers.
— facial recognition cameras in stores capturing shoppers' face geometry and uploading it to a database.
three biometric collection systems. one company.
now the wider picture:
Walmart is not alone. this is an industry pattern.
McDonald's, Applebee's, Chipotle, Domino's, Wingstop, Red Lobster, and Portillo's have all been sued for capturing customer voiceprints when people called to place orders. you called to order a pizza. they built a voice profile.
Verizon enrolled customers in voice ID during service calls without telling them.
Your voiceprint is not a password. you cannot change it. If Walmart's database gets breached and company databases do too, your voice is permanently compromised. every future voice authentication system you use is now at risk.
and this is only illegal in Illinois. BIPA is the only US biometric law that lets individuals sue. In 47 other states, companies can collect your voiceprint, face scan, or fingerprints without legal consequence.
The "just call customer service" pipeline has been a biometric data-collection pipeline for years.
you just didn't know.
