{"schema_version":"0.10.0","id":"LR-2026-0559","record_version":1,"title":"Disney faces class action over facial recognition at California parks","verification":{"human_verified":false,"method":"automated_gate","auto_verified":true,"score":63.0,"score_breakdown":{"source_authority":12.1,"independent_corroboration":20.0,"implicated_party_confirmed":0.0,"citation_integrity":14.0,"specificity":3.0,"completeness":5.76,"unhedged_language":5.0},"checks":{"schema_valid":true,"every_field_cited":true,"quotes_verbatim":true,"source_fetched":true,"distinct_incident":true,"dates_plausible":true,"sources_agree":true,"source_describes_incident":true,"severe_backed_by_source":true,"record_integrity":true,"eligible":true,"about_this_case":true},"gate_version":"gate-2026-10-18.7","cross_check_model":null,"cross_check_agreement":null,"duplicate_of":null,"verified_by":null,"verified_at":"2026-11-01","extraction_run_id":null,"evidence_level":{"level":"preliminary","reason":"1 report: Biometric Update · subject to change","original_document":null,"reports_total":3,"reports_independent":1,"reports_derivative":0,"developing":false,"disputed":false,"rules_version":"evidence-2026-10-29.1","computed_at":"2026-11-01","history":[{"date":"2026-11-01","from_level":null,"to_level":"preliminary","reason":"1 report: Biometric Update · subject to change"}]},"sources_hash":"3eec10b66c057e88458cbcf8d3d95586a76d900e0463f01d23c65f2939bfb6c3"},"system":{"model_name":null,"model_version":null,"developer":"unknown","harness":null,"tools_granted":[],"permissions_scope":null,"autonomy_level":"unknown","guardrails_present":[],"deployment_context":"production","tier":null,"lifecycle_stage":"production","integration_type":null,"intended_use":"verify tickets at park entrances","safeguard_state":null,"production_intended":null},"event":{"date_occurred":"2026-04-01","date_occurred_precision":"month","date_disclosed":"2026-05-18","incident_class":"privacy_leakage","failure_class":null,"agent_involved":null,"secondary_failure_classes":[],"trigger":"unknown","duration":null,"detection_method":"victim","summary":"Disney has been sued over facial recognition at the entrances of Disneyland and Disney California Adventure, where a photograph taken at entry is compared with the image linked to a ticket or annual pass. Disney implemented the system in April, and optional lanes are offered for guests who do not want it. A proposed class action alleges that Disney did not adequately disclose the biometric collection, so guests, including children, may not have known their facial data was collected. The suit was filed after a visitor's May 10 visit and seeks at least $5 million plus written consent before facial recognition is used on visitors. Disney disputes the claims and says they are without merit. These are allegations only, and no court finding is reported.","tags":[],"date_detected":null,"near_miss":null,"root_cause":null,"root_cause_detail":null,"failure_class_detail":null,"responsible_party":"deployer","adversarial_actor":null,"input_provenance":null,"time_to_contain":null,"operations_paused":null,"remediation":null,"precursor_events":null,"primary_risk":"RK15"},"impact":{"direct_loss_usd":null,"remediation_hours":null,"records_exposed":null,"third_parties_affected_count":null,"severity":"moderate","severity_because":"Test: data of others touched with bounded scope stated. Fact: visitor biometric data is alleged collected at two named parks, Disneyland and Disney California Adventure Park.","harm_class":["privacy"],"affected_description":null,"protected_class_involved":null,"data_categories_exposed":["facial images"],"loss_range_usd":null,"reversibility":null,"downstream_exposure_count":null},"evidence":{"sources":[{"url":"https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/disney-class-action-lawsuit-facial-recognition-disneyland-1236598890/","publisher":"The Hollywood Reporter","date":"2026-05-18","type":"press","title":"Disney Hit With Class Action Over Facial Recognition Technology at Park Entrances - The Hollywood Reporter","archived_url":null,"attachment":"first_report"},{"url":"https://www.lawcommentary.com/articles/disney-faces-class-action-over-facial-recognition-use-at-california-theme-parks","publisher":"Law Commentary","date":"2026-05-19","type":"press","title":"Disney Faces Class Action Over Facial Recognition Use at California Theme Parks - Law Commentary","archived_url":null},{"url":"https://www.biometricupdate.com/202605/disney-hit-with-class-action-over-facial-recognition-at-california-parks","publisher":"Biometric Update","date":"2026-05-19","type":"press","title":"Disney hit with class action over facial recognition at California parks - Biometric Update","archived_url":null,"independence":"independent"}],"per_field_confidence":{"system.deployment_context":"C","system.lifecycle_stage":"C","system.intended_use":"C","event.date_occurred":"C","event.incident_class":"C","event.detection_method":"C","event.responsible_party":"C","impact.harm_class":"C","impact.data_categories_exposed":"C","context.industry":"C","context.country":"C","impact.severity":"D","impact.severity_because":"D","event.primary_risk":"D","event.summary":"C","system.autonomy_level":"D","event.trigger":"D","system.developer":"D","event.date_disclosed":"D","context.denominator_available":"D"},"field_citations":{"system.deployment_context":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Disney implemented in April facial recognition at the entrance of Disneyland and sister park California Adventure."}],"system.lifecycle_stage":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Disney implemented in April facial recognition at the entrance of Disneyland and sister park California Adventure."}],"system.intended_use":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Disney has been sued for deploying facial recognition technology at park entrances to verify tickets."}],"event.date_occurred":[{"source_index":2,"quote":"Beginning as late as April 28, 2026, Disney began to implement facial recognition collection at entrances of the Disney Theme Parks which are located in California,"}],"event.incident_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"A class action accuses the entertainment giant of violating privacy, competition and consumer protection laws by implementing the technology at Disneyland, where photographs of guests’ faces are taken and compared with images when they first used the ticket or annual pass."}],"event.detection_method":[{"source_index":1,"quote":"The lawsuit, filed May 15 in federal court in New York, was brought by Riverside County resident Summer Christine Duffield after a May 10 visit to the Anaheim theme parks with her minor children."}],"event.responsible_party":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Disney implemented in April facial recognition at the entrance of Disneyland and sister park California Adventure."}],"impact.harm_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The lawsuit alleges that Disney doesn’t properly disclose to guests that it collects the data."}],"impact.data_categories_exposed":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"A class action accuses the entertainment giant of violating privacy, competition and consumer protection laws by implementing the technology at Disneyland, where photographs of guests’ faces are taken and compared with images when they first used the ticket or annual pass."}],"context.industry":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Disney has been sued for deploying facial recognition technology at park entrances to verify tickets."}],"context.country":[{"source_index":2,"quote":"The complaint, filed by theme park guest Summer Christine Duffield in a New York U.S. District Court, says Disney “does not adequately disclose the use of their biometric collections, so consumers – which almost always include children – have no idea that Disney is collecting this highly sensitive data.”"}],"impact.severity":[{"source_index":2,"quote":"Disney is facing a proposed class action alleging the company illegally collected visitors’ biometric data through facial recognition systems at its California theme parks, Disneyland and Disney California Adventure Park, without obtaining meaningful consent."}],"impact.severity_because":[{"source_index":2,"quote":"Disney is facing a proposed class action alleging the company illegally collected visitors’ biometric data through facial recognition systems at its California theme parks, Disneyland and Disney California Adventure Park, without obtaining meaningful consent."}],"event.summary":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Disney has been sued for deploying facial recognition technology at park entrances to verify tickets."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"A class action accuses the entertainment giant of violating privacy, competition and consumer protection laws by implementing the technology at Disneyland, where photographs of guests’ faces are taken and compared with images when they first used the ticket or annual pass."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Disney implemented in April facial recognition at the entrance of Disneyland and sister park California Adventure."},{"source_index":2,"quote":"Disney set up its optional facial recognition lanes at main entrances to Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park, to facilitate ease of re-entry and help cut down on fraud."},{"source_index":2,"quote":"Disney is facing a proposed class action alleging the company illegally collected visitors’ biometric data through facial recognition systems at its California theme parks, Disneyland and Disney California Adventure Park, without obtaining meaningful consent."},{"source_index":1,"quote":"The lawsuit, filed May 15 in federal court in New York, was brought by Riverside County resident Summer Christine Duffield after a May 10 visit to the Anaheim theme parks with her minor children."},{"source_index":1,"quote":"The class action seeks damages and a court order requiring Disney to obtain written consent before using facial recognition technology on visitors."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"It seeks at least $5 million."},{"source_index":2,"quote":"A spokesperson for Disney Resorts issued a statement saying “we respect and protect our guests’ personal information and dispute the plaintiff’s claims, which we believe are without merit.”"}]},"notes_on_gaps":"No AI agent is described, so agent_involved, failure_class, trigger, root_cause and adversarial_actor are left out. The system is a facial recognition entrance check, not an autonomous agent. Sources do not state a developer, model, or any control that held, failed or was missing; no controls are recorded. Disney has reported no remediation. The year for April is not stated in source 0; 2026 comes from source 2's complaint quote. date_disclosed uses the Hollywood Reporter publication date (2026-05-18) as a judgement. Sources conflict on the court: source 0 says California federal court, sources 1 and 2 say New York. Source 1 says filed May 15, while source 0 says filed on Friday. The $5 million is a sought amount, not a loss, so direct_loss_usd is left out. No count of affected persons is given. Severity is moderate as a judgement: visitor data is touched and the scope is bounded to two named parks. All harms are allegations disputed by Disney. The 30-day deletion claim is contested by the complaint and is not recorded as fact. [case created by the backfill: read by claude-haiku-5-5, backfill-2026-11-01.2, 2026-11-01; not yet reviewed] [2026-11-01: evidence level set: Preliminary (1 report: Biometric Update · subject to change)]"},"context":{"industry":"theme parks","org_size_band":null,"country":"US","denominator_available":false,"denominator":null,"related_incident_ids":[],"systemic_exposure":null,"shared_model_id":null,"upstream_incident_id":null,"incident_evidence":null,"regulatory":null,"coverage":null},"narrative":{"steps":[{"step":"went_wrong","text":"The complaint alleges visitors' biometric data was collected without meaningful consent. These are allegations.","quote":"Disney is facing a proposed class action alleging the company illegally collected visitors’ biometric data through facial recognition systems at its California theme parks, Disneyland and Disney California Adventure Park, without obtaining meaningful consent.","source_index":2,"grade":"C"},{"step":"caught","text":"A visitor who went to the parks with her minor children brought the class action.","quote":"The lawsuit, filed May 15 in federal court in New York, was brought by Riverside County resident Summer Christine Duffield after a May 10 visit to the Anaheim theme parks with her minor children.","source_index":1,"grade":"C"},{"step":"done","text":"Disney disputes the claims and says they are without merit.","quote":"A spokesperson for Disney Resorts issued a statement saying “we respect and protect our guests’ personal information and dispute the plaintiff’s claims, which we believe are without merit.”","source_index":2,"grade":"C"}],"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/disney-class-action-lawsuit-facial-recognition-disneyland-1236598890/","https://www.lawcommentary.com/articles/disney-faces-class-action-over-facial-recognition-use-at-california-theme-parks","https://www.biometricupdate.com/202605/disney-hit-with-class-action-over-facial-recognition-at-california-parks"]},"analysis":{"sections":{"timeline":[{"text":"Complaint dates the start of facial recognition collection at the parks' entrances.","quote":"Beginning as late as April 28, 2026, Disney began to implement facial recognition collection at entrances of the Disney Theme Parks which are located in California,","source_index":2,"when":"April 28, 2026"},{"text":"Disney implemented facial recognition at the entrances of Disneyland and California Adventure.","quote":"Disney implemented in April facial recognition at the entrance of Disneyland and sister park California Adventure.","source_index":0,"when":"April"},{"text":"Plaintiff visits the Anaheim parks with her minor children.","quote":"The lawsuit, filed May 15 in federal court in New York, was brought by Riverside County resident Summer Christine Duffield after a May 10 visit to the Anaheim theme parks with her minor children.","source_index":1,"when":"May 10"},{"text":"Class action filed in federal court.","quote":"The lawsuit, filed May 15 in federal court in New York, was brought by Riverside County resident Summer Christine Duffield after a May 10 visit to the Anaheim theme parks with her minor children.","source_index":1,"when":"May 15"},{"text":"Disney disputes the claims in a statement.","quote":"A spokesperson for Disney Resorts issued a statement saying “we respect and protect our guests’ personal information and dispute the plaintiff’s claims, which we believe are without merit.”","source_index":2,"when":null}]},"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/disney-class-action-lawsuit-facial-recognition-disneyland-1236598890/","https://www.lawcommentary.com/articles/disney-faces-class-action-over-facial-recognition-use-at-california-theme-parks","https://www.biometricupdate.com/202605/disney-hit-with-class-action-over-facial-recognition-at-california-parks"]}}