A federal judge in California has ruled that Facebook can be sued in a class-action lawsuit brought by users in Illinois who say the social network improperly used facial recognition technology on their uploaded photographs.

The plaintiffs are three Illinois Facebook users who sued under a state law that says a private entity such as Facebook can’t collect and store a person’s biometric facial information without their written consent. The law, known as the Biometric Information Privacy Act, also says that information that uniquely identifies an individual is, in essence, their property. The law prohibits a private entity from selling, leasing, trading or otherwise profiting from a person’s biometric information.

U.S. District Judge James Donato ruled that the lawsuit can proceed as a class action representing potentially millions of Facebook users in Illinois. The judge is based in San Francisco where the case had been moved at Facebook’s request.

The suit seeks penalties of up to $5,000 for every time a user’s facial image is used without his or her permission. The judge said the potential damages could amount to billions of dollars.

Facebook issued a statement saying it continued to believe that the lawsuit has no merit. It argued in court that individual plaintiffs should have to pursue their legal claims proving that they were “aggrieved” and suffered an actual injury beyond an invasion of privacy.

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Martin Sorrell, the powerful CEO who turned WPP into the world’s largest advertising and PR firm, has resigned after allegations of misconduct.

The misconduct reportedly involved misuse of company funds — though not at a level “material” to the massive organization — as well as “personal misconduct.”

WPP has completed its investigation into the allegations, but has not released any public details about what the allegations were, or whether they were substantiated. Sorrell has denied that the allegations have merit.

Sorrell “will be treated as having retired,” WPP says in a statement. The Guardian reports that Sorrell, 73, is due to receive in the neighborhood of £20 million ($28 million) as part of his exit.

As NPR previously reported:

“Sorrell is a giant in the global advertising industry, and one of Britain’s most prominent businessmen. He’s famously well-compensated, earning £210 million (nearly $300 million) over the course of 5 years in a controversial pay package that some shareholders resisted.

“Within the last year, he’s come under pressure because of his company’s performance — WPP has seen poorer-than-expected growth and slumping stocks.

“Sorrell, formerly the finance director at Saatchi & Saatchi, created WPP in the mid-’80s. He invested in a manufacturing company called Wire and Plastic Products Plc, took over as chief executive and converted the company into a marketing firm. Through acquisition after acquisition, the renamed WPP Group grew from a small operation into a behemoth.

“Today, it is the world’s largest advertising company, and Sorrell has been called the world’s ‘most important advertising executive.’ “

In a statement to employees at WPP — more than 200,000 of them — Sorrell described the company as a “family” and praised its growth over the last three decades.

He acknowledged the allegations of misconduct only obliquely.

“I see that the current disruption we are experiencing is simply putting too much unnecessary pressure on the business,” he wrote. “That is why I have decided that in your interest, in the interest of our clients, in the interest of all shareowners, both big and small, and in the interest of all our other stakeholders, it is best for me to step aside.”

“As a Founder, I can say that WPP is not just a matter of life or death, it was, is and will be more important than that,” he wrote.

Sorrell, whose name has been inextricably bound with WPP’s identity since he reinvented the company in the ’80s, has never discussed stepping down from the firm before. But he says there is a succession plan in place.

Chairman Roberto Quarta is stepping in as executive chairman until a new CEO is appointed, WPP says. Mark Read and Andrew Scott, current WPP executives, will serve as joint chief operating officers.

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Updated at 3 a.m. ET

The National Transportation Safety Board, which is looking into the fatal crash last month of an SUV using Tesla’s Autopilot system, said it is removing the high-tech automaker from the probe for improperly disclosing details of the investigation.

Tesla says it withdrew from the investigation.

The NTSB is examining last month’s crash of a 2017 Tesla Model X near Mountain View, Calif. The vehicle crashed into a concrete lane divider, killing the driver, Walter Huang.

Earlier this week, Tesla blamed Huang for the accident, which the NTSB contends runs counter to agency protocols.

As Bloomberg notes, “The NTSB guards the integrity of its investigations closely, demanding that participants adhere to rules about what information they can release and their expected cooperation. These so-called parties to investigations must sign legal agreements laying out their responsibilities.”

“Tesla violated the party agreement by releasing investigative information before it was vetted and confirmed by the NTSB,” the agency said in a statement. “Such releases of incomplete information often lead to speculation and incorrect assumptions about the probable cause of a crash.”

“It is unfortunate that Tesla, by its actions, did not abide by the party agreement,” said NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt. “We decided to revoke Tesla’s party status and informed Mr. Musk in a phone call last evening and via letter today. While we understand the demand for information that parties face during an NTSB investigation, uncoordinated releases of incomplete information do not further transportation safety or serve the public interest.”

In a statement emailed to NPR, a Tesla spokesperson said the company decided to withdraw from the agreement of its own accord.

“Last week, in a conversation with the NTSB, we were told that if we made additional statements before their 12-24 month investigative process is complete, we would no longer be a party to the investigation agreement. On Tuesday, we chose to withdraw from the agreement and issued a statement to correct misleading claims that had been made about Autopilot — claims which made it seem as though Autopilot creates safety problems when the opposite is true,” the statement said.

“It’s been clear in our conversations with the NTSB that they’re more concerned with press headlines than actually promoting safety,” Tesla said. “Among other things, they repeatedly released partial bits of incomplete information to the media in violation of their own rules, at the same time that they were trying to prevent us from telling all the facts.”

As The Wall Street Journal writes:

“Removals from NTSB party agreements are rare. The agency in 2014 revoked party status for United Parcel Service Inc. and a pilots union in the probe of a crash of one of the package-delivery company’s cargo planes after public comments were made by each side about circumstances surrounding the accident.

For Tesla, a departure from the NTSB agreement risks diminishing the car maker’s influence over and insight into an investigation that could ultimately reach critical conclusions about one of the company’s signature products.”

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The London offices of Rupert Murdoch’s 21^st Century Fox have been raided by European investigators looking into possible anti-trust violations related to the media giant’s dominant position in broadcasting sports events.

Fox’s office in Hammersmith, west London, were just the highest-profile target among several targets in a number of EC member states that were raided on Tuesday in connection with what investigators said were “companies active in the distribution of media rights and related rights pertaining to various sports events and/or their broadcasting.”

In a statement, the European Commission said it had concerns that Fox and other companies that were raided “violated EU antitrust rules that prohibit cartels and restrictive business practices.”

“Unannounced inspections are a preliminary step into suspected anticompetitive practices. (It) … does not mean that the companies are guilty of anti-competitive behaviour nor does it prejudge the outcome of the investigation itself,” the statement said.

The Guardian newspaper reports: “The raids, during which documents and computer records were reportedly taken, had been prompted by concerns of the regulators in Brussels.”

Fox is currently in a protracted takeover bid of Sky News, which has caught the eye of U.K. and European regulators. Fox wants to buy the 61 percent of Sky that it does not already own as part of a $15 billion deal.

According to The Guardian:

“In January the UK’s competition and markets authority provisionally found that if the deal went ahead as planned, it would give the Murdoch family too much control over news providers in the UK.

The regulator scrutinising the deal feared it could lead to the Murdoch family trust holding too much influence over public opinion and the political agenda.”

In an effort to satisfy regulators and allay antitrust concerns, in December, the Walt Disney Co. struck a deal to acquire much of 21^st Century Fox for $52.4 billion.

As NPR’s David Folkenflik reported at the time, “The most profitable and controversial part of the Fox empire — Fox News —would not be part of the deal. Yet the [Murdoch] family is selling off other defining properties, including the movie studio 20th Century Fox. The deal is expected to face regulatory scrutiny, as it would greatly concentrate similar holdings in Disney.”

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Updated at 8 p.m. ET

The federal agency that trains, tests and certifies the physicians who read X-rays and diagnose the deadly coal miners’ disease black lung said today it was not consulted by Kentucky lawmakers in the 14 months they considered a new law that mostly limits diagnoses to pulmonologists working for coal companies.

As NPR and Ohio Valley ReSource first reported, the new Kentucky law bans certified radiologists from reading X-rays used to award state black lung compensation. That leaves out radiologists with extensive experience in reading chest X-rays and diagnosing black lung, a disease caused by inhalation of coal and silica dust.

Instead, the law reserves that task for pulmonologists, and only six in Kentucky are certified to read black lung X-rays. Four of those six typically work for coal companies, according to an NPR review of federal black lung claims.

Training, testing and certification are provided by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, a federal research agency. The agency certifies “B readers” who are uniquely qualified to diagnose black lung based on X-rays.

“NIOSH was not consulted about this bill,” said spokeswoman Christina Spring, who also provided the comparative pass/fail rates of certified physicians who are required to take recertification exams.

“There is no evidence that performing ILO classification, a standardized process for describing findings present on chest radiographic images used in evaluating black lung cases, is done differently by B Readers with medical backgrounds in radiology vs. pulmonology,” Spring said.

In fact, radiologists have a slight edge with 90 percent passing the exams in the last 10 years, while 85 percent of pulmonologists were recertified.

Calling for repeal

“To have that established process superseded by legislators and a political process is inappropriate,” said Dr. William Thorwarth, CEO of the American College of Radiology.

“This is a matter of life and death for many people,” Thorwarth added. “Politics should be left out of it.”

Thorwarth also called on the Kentucky Legislature to repeal the changes, which came in larger “reforms” of the state’s workers’ compensation law.

The revised law is “off base,” said Bill Bruce, the executive director of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, a group representing 5,000 physicians who specialize in occupational and environmental injury, illness and disability.

“There is no rationale for limiting X-ray interpretation to pulmonary physicians,” Bruce told NPR Monday. “Qualified physicians in other specialties should be allowed to do so if they have demonstrated competency.”

Coal miners in Kentucky suffering from black lung can seek state or federal compensation for black lung disease, although state benefits may be greater and easier to obtain.

As NPR has reported, the rate of the advanced stage of disease, known as complicated black lung, is at epidemic levels.

State black lung claims in Kentucky have risen about 40 percent since 2014, according to an analysis of state data by Ohio Valley ReSource.

The state Department of Workers’ Claims reports that more than $3.3 million in black lung benefits went to coal miners in 2014.

“Open to a better way of doing it”

The lead sponsor of the legislation was Rep. Adam Koenig, a Republican and real estate agent from Erlanger, Ky., who told NPR he “relied on the expertise of those who understand the issue — the industry, coal companies and attorneys” during the 14 months he spent working on the changes.

In response to criticism of the law, Koenig said “not everyone who had a specific interest was involved. … I’m not sure I was even aware of NIOSH.”

Koenig added that he is “open to a better way of doing it” and may seek a hearing on possible changes in the law during legislative interim committee meetings this summer and fall.

“If the radiologists feel slighted, we’re going to talk about it,” he said. “And if they’re right, we’ll fix it.”

Kentucky’s Legislature has completed its 2018 regular session except for addressing any vetoes by Republican Gov. Matt Bevin, who signed the workers’ comp law that contains the new black lung provisions.

Pulmonologists object

“For all practical purposes, this eliminates the state workers’ compensation black lung program,” said Timothy Wilson, a Lexington attorney who represents coal miners.

Wilson is also president of the Kentucky Workers’ Association and participated in confidential negotiations focused on the black lung claims legislation.

“The coal industry was directly involved,” Wilson said, but he would not name the participants in the talks given an agreement that the discussions remain confidential.

Even one of the nation’s leading groups on pulmonology and respiratory disease has criticized the Kentucky law and urged repeal.

“This law seems to have been specifically passed to exclude physicians who are neutral” in assessing black lung disease, said Dr. Robert Cohen, a pulmonologist at the University of Illinois, Chicago who has spent 30 years focused on black lung disease.

Cohen spoke on behalf of the American Thoracic Society, which represents more than 15,000 pulmonologists, physicians, other health care providers and researchers focused on respiratory disease.

The Kentucky law “is a disservice to miners,” Cohen said. “It was ill-considered.”

Benny Becker is a reporter with Ohio Valley ReSource, a regional journalism collaborative reporting on economic and social change in Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia.

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When Jeff Runions started his trucking career nearly 40 years ago, he had high hopes for what the job might bring.

“I wanted the American dream.”

Since then he’s seen the industry from every step of the ladder — as an independent owner-operator, a full-time company driver, a parts manager, and finally a trucking depot manager.

In his latest job developing autonomous trucks, Runions, 58, has a front row seat to what many see as the future of the 700 billion dollar trucking industry. He’s found himself in the middle of a heated race between Silicon Valley juggernauts like Uber and Google to get their self-driving trucks out onto the road first.

“It’s like when they went to the moon,” Runions says. “We’re not going to the moon, but it feels kinda like a new technology’s coming up and how many people would think a semi would be driving itself?”

Runions, who lives in Jacksonville, Fla.,works a startup called Starsky Robotics — a company smaller than Uber or Google. Instead of trying to beat their competition to developing fully autonomous vehicles, Starsky’s strategy is to develop trucks that are fully autonomous on the highway — then let remote drivers take the wheel from offices filled with arcade-style consoles, when they hit city streets.

The strategy is still in its testing phase: Runions is a safety-driver. He sits in the driver’s seat of the truck cabin, ready to take control if there’s trouble.His test rides range from an hour and a half to eight hours-long.

He also works alongside his company’s programmers to test and tweak the truck’s sensors and software.

“I come up with some suggestions once in a while and they do work. I’m not an engineer like these guys are, but sometimes they listen to me. So, that means I’m part of the team too,” he said.

Runions, after all, has nearly four decades of experience in the trucking industry under his belt.

In the mid-80s, he became an owner-operator, and purchasing a truck and leasing out his services on contract to freight companies.

For a while, Runions enjoyed the freedom that came with having his own truck and the camaraderie he found with fellow truckers he met while crisscrossing the country.

“We were like the cowboys of the old days, doing our own thing,” he said. “We were truckers, and we were young. We were having a good time.”

But as the years dragged on, life on the road began to lose its luster. Between regular sleep deprivation and a diet based on truck stop junk food, Runions started to feel that the trucker lifestyle was unhealthy. And the hectic schedule took a toll on his family life.

“You just get tired of the same stuff all the time and sleeping in the truck,” he said. You’re in this little box all the time. You can’t really go anywhere. The only thing you gotta do is go to sleep and get up and do it again.”

After fuel prices surged in the early 2000s, Runions decided that going it alone didn’t make financial sense for him anymore. After more than 20 years of contracting himself out, Runions sold his truck and took a job with a commercial trucking company.

But he soon found that the new gig had its own downsides.

“A normal driver that works for a company, they gotta stay out three weeks at a time, and they give them two days off when they get home,” he said. “Soon as they get home, after their two days, they gotta go right back out for 21 more days. That ain’t much of a life. Then you’re staying in that box again.”

Runions eventually worked his way up to management, but despite the position’s better pay, he found its hours and stress were even worse.

“I was always in there from 3 o’ clock in the morning to 3 o’ clock in the afternoon,” he said. “I was [worn] out, so I decided to try something that was different. And you can’t get more different than this.”

Runions came across an online ad for a technology company in search of experienced truck drivers. At first, he was unsure about getting behind the wheel of a self-driving truck, but he says he’s come to enjoy the work and its hours. “I’m home when I need to be,” he said. “I’m a happy person now.”

Runions says that since he began as a test-driver in early 2017, he’s heard pushback from people who doubt the safety of autonomous vehicles.

“People are scared of this technology because they don’t understand exactly what’s going on with it,” he said.

That’s one of the reasons Runions finds his new job meaningful.

“I feel like I’m helping make this truck right. And we want to make sure that it’s safe as it can be being on the highway,” he said.

He’s also heard from fellow truckers who fear that the new technology will put them out work. But Runions points out the of tens of thousands of open trucking jobs now that the industry is struggling to fill. He thinks that demand plus the growing need for remote drivers mean there’ll be plenty of trucking jobs down the road.

And, Runions says that allowing drivers to work remotely will ultimately make their lives better.

“If you can get where you can [have] a 40-hour hourly [weekly] job like a regular person and be home for your family, can’t ask no more than that,” Runions said.

“That’s like a regular life. A lot of drivers don’t have that.”

NPR’s Emily Sullivan produced this story for digital. NPR’s Eliza Dennis helped produce this story for broadcast.

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