Particle.news
Download on the App Store
6 ARTICLES
·
last mo.

São Paulo Prosecutors Sue Tools for Humanity and Amazon, Seek R$240 Million Over Paid Iris Scans

The case could determine who controls cloud copies of sensitive biometric data and whether paid iris collection aimed at poor neighborhoods violated consumer and data-protection rules.

O Ministério Público afirma haver indícios de que representantes nos pontos de coleta eram orientados a enfatizar a recompensa financeira como principal elemento de adesão
Image
Image
Image

Overview

  • The Ministério Público de São Paulo filed a public civil action on Monday seeking at least R$240 million in collective moral damages and asking a court to ban paid iris collection, order irreversible deletion of collected data, and declare the companies' practices abusive.
  • Prosecutors say more than 400,000 people in São Paulo had their irises scanned in exchange for payments or in-app benefits worth roughly R$300 to R$700, with collection concentrated in peripheral neighborhoods and near metro stations and Poupatempo units, targeting socioeconomically vulnerable people.
  • In a liminar request the MP demanded preservation of all data, records and metadata, production of contracts and technical reports showing where the information is stored, and identification of the specific Amazon group company hosting the data pending judicial expertise.
  • Tools for Humanity says it does not keep a Brazilian biometric database and that iris images are processed locally and fragmented using secure multiparty computation before distribution, while Amazon AWS Brasil says customers must follow the law and that responsibility may lie with an international AWS unit if hosting contracts were signed abroad.
  • The lawsuit builds on April’s CPI da Íris report and an ANPD precautionary suspension from January 2025, and could set legal precedents on cross‑border cloud responsibility, the technical limits of deleting biometric fragments, and how consent and compensation rules protect vulnerable people.