Et tu, ramen messenger?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
By Maggie Harrison Dupr\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n For all the controversy they\u2019ve caught this year, Flock cameras only collect and store license plate data from passing vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the WALL-E-esque delivery robots now trundling through America\u2019s cities are bristling with cameras and sensors that help them navigate the bustling world around them as they make their way to customers\u2019 doorsteps \u2014 and according to a pair of new lawsuits, you might be coughing up sensitive data in exchange for your dinner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to reporting by the Associated Press<\/em><\/a>, delivery robot companies Coco Robotics and Serve Robotics have been hit with similar lawsuits from Chicago residents claiming that their bots are illegally collecting sensitive biometric data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The lawsuits claim that the robots have used embedded cameras and LIDAR sensors to record information about Chicago residents\u2019 hands, bodies, and faces as they approach their deliveries. In both cases, the plaintiffs allege that they didn\u2019t request or consent to a robot delivery. Because they didn\u2019t ask for a robot delivery, they argue, they certainly didn\u2019t consent to being recorded or their data being collected by the delivery machines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The plaintiff in the case against Coco further also alleges that a remote human operator watched his delivery as it happened. The plaintiff in the case against Serve, meanwhile, claims that the delivery robot he encountered collected and retained his data as he collected his Uber Eats order. His lawsuit also raises the concern that the data could be used to train AI or handed to third parties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Both companies have disputed the claims. Coco, saying that privacy is a top priority, told the AP<\/em> that the litigation against it is \u201cfrivolous,\u201d and that \u201cthis lawsuit fundamentally misunderstands our technology, we have not collected biometric data in Chicago.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe data we share is navigational data used to make sidewalks safer for all users,\u201d Coco told the AP<\/em>. \u201cFor example, we provide real-time sidewalk hazard information to BlindSquare, a navigation app built for people who are blind or have low vision. We do not share data from the beginning or end of delivery trips under our data sharing partnerships. Privacy and compliance with the law are top priorities in everything we do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Serve, for its part, told the AP<\/em> that it plans to \u201cdefend against\u201d the legal action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cServe does not use that data to identify individuals and our systems are not designed to identify individuals or create biometric profiles,\u201d Serve\u2019s statement continued, per the report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Illinois has uniquely strong laws<\/a> against the nonconsensual collection of biometric data<\/a>, so it\u2019s not surprising to see cases like these brought in Chicago. As Gizmodo<\/em> notes<\/a>, Chicago has also seen a surge of the delivery bots<\/a> over the past few years, causing frustration and annoyance among many in the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Regardless of how the cases shake out, the fact remains: the more automated our lives are, the more likely it is that sensitive information \u2014 about our lives and behaviors, and even our bodies \u2014 is going to be swallowed up, stored somewhere, and used in ways that we have no control over.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is mainly a big city problem, as not workable in other locations. Consequently, I’m not one to use delivery services as I don’t trust the people delivering them as some look methed up, and I don’t trust my food to stay secure in one of these robots either. And as we found with Flock […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tech","category-world"],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Jason","author_link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/author\/jturning\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19218"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19218\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19219,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19218\/revisions\/19219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/futurism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/delivery-robots-database-flock.jpg?quality=85&w=1152\")