Jeremy Lee from Queensland, Australia, won a landmark case against his employer after he was fired for refusing to use his fingerprint to clock in and out of work. He sued for unfair dismissal and claimed his right to deny consent to the use of his biometric data was protected under the country’s Privacy Act. The court overruled an earlier decision that the company’s fingerprinting policy was reasonable. The upper court ruled that Lee is the owner of his biometric data and the dismissal was unfair. Additionally, the court wrote, “We accept Mr. Lee’s submission that once biometric information is digitized, it may be very difficult to contain its use by third parties, including for commercial purposes.”
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