Courthouse News Service: “Rejecting arguments that Facebook users suffered no “concrete harm” by having their facial data mapped and stored, the Ninth Circuit advanced a $35 billion class action against the social media giant Thursday. Facebook sought to swat down the lawsuit last year after U.S. District Judge James Donato ordered it to alert users about an upcoming trial on claims that it harvested facial data in violation of an Illinois privacy law. The Ninth Circuit granted Facebook’s eleventh-hour request for a stay pending appeal in May 2018. A lawyer representing a class of Facebook users said the ruling sends a strong message that Facebook can be held accountable for failing to protect people’s private information. “This biometric data is very sensitive. It’s as unique as a fingerprint,” said attorney Shawn Williams, of the firm Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd in San Francisco…”