2K wins right to store player’s facial scans from NBA games

Video game publisher 2K has won a court case regarding the use of face-scanning technology in its NBA 2K15 and 2K16 vgames.

The publisher and its parent company Take-Two Interactive were challenged by two gamers who filed a lawsuit in October 2015 over concerns about the storage and potential use of face scans. The scans are taken by the player’s console camera to create lifelike avatars — though results are debatable.

The plaintiffs agreed to the game’s terms and conditions, which state that users must consent to have their face scan made visible to others, but argued that 2K wasn’t clear that the biometric data would be stored indefinitely and that the data could be shared.

Biometric data is more sensitive than many other forms of data due to the fact that it is not easily altered, however, a New York federal judge ruled that the plaintiffs had failed to make a strong enough case that they had sustained ‘sufficient injury.’

“There is no allegation that Take-Two has disseminated or sold the plaintiffs’ biometric data to third- parties, or that Take-Two has used the plaintiffs’ biometric information in any way not contemplated by the only possible use of the MyPlayer feature: the creation of personalized basketball avatars for in-game play,” stated the judge.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter Via: Engadget