I'm watching Aibo, Sony's robo-dog, scuttle around the office. Its mechanical joints make slow, noisy work of it on the concrete floor, but I can't help but be mildly heart-warmed. I'd rather have a real dog here, but there's something charming about Aibo.

The $2,900 pup is a companion robot, one Sony claims "learns its environment and develops relationships with people." Aibo even enlists a camera in its nose to scan faces and determine who's who so it can react to them differently.

Because of our office pet's face-detecting capabilities, Sony doesn't sell Aibo in Illinois. The state's Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) regulates the collection of biometric data, including face scans.

So Aibo's out in the land of Lincoln, but the story doesn't stop with Sony's quirkyrobot. Illinois also limits access to facial recognition in home security cameras, a feature that's becoming increasingly prevalent in the consumer security market. Let's take a closer look at BIPA, the growth of biometric tech in consumer products -- and how other states in the US treat your biometric info.