THURSDAY February 20, 2020
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Vol. 149 Issue 41
Campus app rewards exercise with discounts file in the Plyo app. Specific discounts at the bookstore include 20% off drinkware, 20% off Nike apparel and 25% off any item. “We’re trying to tie it into what the app is for,” Riha said. “So the Nike apparel — maybe they want a new shirt or something to work out in.” Jack Craig, freshman in Engineering, has been using Plyo since it first launched. Plyo sends a notification to your phone each time you walk into the ARC. “It’s like I’m being recognized for being here,” Craig said. “So it is kind of supportive in that way.” According to Peter Schultze, CEO of Plyo, the app is a health and fitness rewards platform with a mission to “inspire the next generation to live active lifestyles.” Schultze came up with the idea back in 2017 when he was a student at the University of Minnesota. “I was going through my own personal health and
BY AMRITA BHATTACHARYYA CONTRIBUTING WRITER
BEN TSCHETTER THE DAILY ILLINI
KAM’s reopened on Jan. 29 after an announcement was made on the bar’s Instagram earlier in the day, and the line for entry stretched over a block. Recently, screenshots from an employee GroupMe surfaced on Twitter, causing strong reactions from the campus community. Kam’s responded Wednesday stating that an employee in the chat was fired.
A new health and fitness app rewarding students for exercising by tracking their workout sessions recently launched on campus. Plyo activates at CRCE, ARC and the Illinois Ice Arena, enabling students to earn points toward exclusive offers to local restaurants, retailers and brand partners. Students can receive discounts at restaurants, such as Kung Fu Tea, PvP Bakery and Paris Super Crepes. Erik Riha, marketing director for the Illini Union, has partnered with Plyo to promote places, such as the Illini Union Bookstore, Quad Shop, Auntie Anne’s and Blaze Pizza. “We liked the aspect that (Plyo) was based around health and fitness rewards and rewarding people for going to the rec centers,” Riha said. In the past two weeks, the Illini Union Bookstore has seen two redemptions and 600 clicks on their pro-
SEE EXERCISE | 3A
KAM’s GroupMe stirs controversy BY SAMANTHA BOYLE AND JULIE KANG NEWS EDITOR AND ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
A Twitter post showing a group message between a few KAM’s employees went viral among University students Monday. The post, made by Brianna Ghanbari, junior in AHS, stated in the tweet, “coming from a person who used to
work at kams, i can’t believe how incredibly racist they are wow.” Ghanbari worked at KAM’s last year but said she never turned in her availability for the new school year and was simply never scheduled again. Not having officially quit or been fired, Ghanbari was still in group chats with some of the other employees. The rest of the Twitter
thread showed screenshots of messages on a GroupMe where some employees were talking about Hispanic students at the bar. “It just made me really angry,” Ghanbari said. “I knew I wanted to show people what he was saying because I have a bunch of friends that go there, especially since they just go there, and it’s just like little do they know what all
these people are thinking of them.” Ghanbari posted three screenshots of the GroupMe, starting with a message stating “the Mexican Geeds have discovered Block.” The responding messages revolved around getting the bar to “stock up” on Modelos. JONATHAN BONAGURO THE DAILY ILLINI According to Urban Jack Craig, freshman in Engineering, holds the Plyo app open on his phone at the ARC on Saturday. Plyo, a health and fitness
SEE KAM’S | 3A app, recognizes each time a user walks into the ARC.
Facebook to pay Illinois $550 million to settle privacy lawsuit Concerns over data collection continue to grow BY DIANA ANGHEL STAFF WRITERS
Facebook is to pay $550 million to Illinois Facebook users, after settling a lawsuit that targeted the company’s automated face-tagging system. Three Illinois men sued the company for violating Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act. Facebook’s software uses facial recognition technology to match individuals’ faces to their information. In Illinois, however, this technology is illegal to use without gaining the consent of users before collecting biometric information, including fingerprints and facial recognition. Facebook settled this case by agreeing to pay a fine of $550 million to the state of Illinois, but no other restrictions were placed on the company, as their data aggregations will continue to work in the same way. “That’s like me paying a parking ticket,” said Jamie Andrade, member of the Illinois House of Represent atives a nd
chairperson for the Illinois Committee of Cybersecurity, Data Analytics and IT. Illinois stands as one of three states that have set legislature for biometric data. Even so, it is the only state that allows individuals to file lawsuits against tech companies. “It’s what I believe to be one of the strongest laws in the country,” Andrade said. In this unique way, it creates a private right of action for those who want to protect their online privacy. “In Washington and Texas, that have similar laws, only the state attorney’s general can bring a lawsuit,” said Jay P. Kesan, director of the University Program in Intellectual Property and Technology Law. One of the biggest problems, Kesan added, is most people don’t realize how data is being aggregated and coordinated to get a complete picture of an individual. It’s a commonality to skip over the terms and conditions when using an internet platform, blindly agreeing to private data storage or sharing. This allows companies to set their own restrictions with limited repercussions from their users. “A lot of these agreements
BEN TSCHETTER THE DAILY ILLINI
A man streams Metallica’s performance on Facebook Live on March 11 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The privacy of users’ data has been of growing concern, prompting Facebook to settle a lawsuit regarding its automated face-tagging system.
and terms of service that people consent to will very often say that they will share the information with authorized or specific affiliates, or third parties that they deem to be appropriate,” Kesan said. “Very often you don’t realize it, but you agree to it.” Especially when it comes to the internet platforms that are free, such as
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Students at the basement of Illini Union on April 16 eating lunch and working on their laptops.
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Facebook, Instagram or Google, users seem to overlook the true cost of data collection. Personal data can be monetized and sold to third-party tech companies that store complete profiles on internet users. “No app is free,” Andrade said. “Nothing is free.” In light of the Facebook settlement, a class action suit against Clearview AI, a tech company that provides facial recognition software, is being built for its similar violation of Illinois’ BIPA. The class action complaint states that Clearview “actively collected, stored and used Plaintiffs’ biometrics — and the biometrics of most of the residents of Illinois — without providing notice, obtaining informed written consent or publishing data retention policies.” Clearview has collected a database of more than three billion photographs that it aggregated from Instagram, Facebook, Venmo, Twitter,
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Youtube and millions of other websites. “They’re downloading all the stuff that’s publicly available,” Kesan said. “It doesn’t appear to be limited to what is just publicly available.” Contrastingly, Clearview’s website claims they are in “full compliance with the law;” however, considering that only three U.S. states have legislation on biometric
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and that data aggregation is a still-evolving discussion, Clearview is one of many companies that still gets away with collecting biometrics. “No matter what laws we pass, no matter what regulations we pass, there is now an industry in the dark web that literally is set up to steal data,” Andrade said.
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