A U.S Judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed against Google by consumers who claimed the search engine’s photo sharing and storage service violated their privacy on Saturday. The U.S. judge has cited a lack of “concrete injuries.” The U.S. District Judge Edmond Chang in Chicago granted a Google motion for summary judgment, saying the court lacked “subject matter jurisdiction because plaintiffs have not suffered concrete injuries.”
The suit was filed in March 2016, alleges Alphabet Inc’s Google for violating Illinois state law by collecting and storing biometric data from people’s photographs using facial recognition software without their permission through its Google Photos service. The plaintiffs had sought more than $5 million for the “hundreds of thousands” of state residents affected, according to court documents.
Plaintiffs had asked the court for $5,000 for each intentional violation of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, or $1,000 for every negligent violation. Google, in return, had argued in court documents that the plaintiffs were not entitled to money or injunctive relief because they had suffered no harm.