Facebook will have to fight a lawsuit in court that claims the social giant's facial recognition software violates a privacy law. A federal judge has denied Facebook's request to dismiss the case that argues the social network's photo-tagging and facial recognition system breaks an Illinois law that requires permission to collect identifiers such as fingerprints.   

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A San Francisco federal judge denied Facebook's motion to throw out the suit based on the 2008 Biometric Information Privacy Act, according to Engadget. In this case attorneys argued that Facebook collected "faceprints" without users' permission.

Judge James Donato wrote in the ruling that the federal court accepts the plaintiffs' claims that the tech giant scanned face geometry without getting Facebook users' approval. The company has faced similar privacy issues in Canada and Europe.     

Facebook rolled out its photo-tagging tool in 2010, according to USA Today. Its software automatically pairs names with faces in photos uploaded to the world's largest social network with over 1.6 billion monthly active users.   

Facebook's facial recognition software remembers users' faces when it identifies them in images. Then friends can tag them in photos.

The social network's feature is known as "tag suggestions." When a person signs up for Facebook the feature is automatically switched on.

The 2008 Illinois privacy law requires companies to get permission from consumers before they can collect or store biometric data. That includes faceprints. Tech companies including Facebook and Google use the tool to identify people in photographs.

In the Facebook lawsuit the plaintiffs argue they never gave the company a thumbs up to use their faces as "biometric identifiers." However, Facebook notes that photo-tagging is mentioned in its terms of service, and it allows users to opt-out.   

In addition, Facebook claims the Illinois law does not apply in this case since the faceprints are made from photos.  

However, Judge Donato wrote that the law was passed at the start of biometric tech. He also stated that using tools such as facial recognition software to collect personal data is not supported by the law. It also opposed the goal of protecting privacy as biometric tech becomes more advanced.

Google was also hit with a lawsuit in March. The case argues that the search giant's photo-tagging system breaks Illinois law. 

Here's a video on facial recognition tech: