An Illinois man is seeking to form a class around his legal action against a McDonald's restaurant that he alleges used his voice as part of its drive-thru voice recognition system without his expressed consent, as required under Illinois law, according to Westlaw Today.

The suit alleges the QSR's use of voice recognition software to identify repeat customers at drive-thrus violates biometic privacy law in Illinois. In Carpenter v. McDonald's Corp, originally filed in Cook County Circuit Court in April, the plaintiff alleges McDonald's stores customers voiceprints without permission. The case has been moved to U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, according to a notice May 28.

McDonald's deployed the voice recognition tech last year nationwide. The system lets diners place orders without talking to another human. Voiceprints extracted by the technology identify customers' pitch, volume and other unique qualities.

Illinois law requires companies that use such technology to tell customers or get consent, the suit said. The law also requires the chain to make its data retention policies public on how long such information is stored and what's done with it.

The suit seeks to establish a class including those whose voiceprint biometric information McDonald's collected or stored in Illinois and seeks damages of $5,000 for each reckless or willful BIPA violation and $1,000 for each negligent BIPA violation, along with costs and fees.

McDonald's had not returned a request for comment at the time of this writing.

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