A New York-based tech startup that claims to have amassed a collection of 3 billion photographic images is tussling with two federal judges overseeing nearly a dozen privacy lawsuits in New York and Illinois, home to the strictest biometrics law in the country.

Since a January 18 story in The New York Times unveiled the business model of Clearview AI Inc., which uses facial recognition to provide photographic information, primarily to law enforcement, lawyers have filed 11 class actions and Vermont Attorney General TJ Donovan and the ACLU, represented by Jay Edelson of Edelson PC, have also filed lawsuits.