Texas is suing tech giant Google for allegedly collecting biometric data of its citizens without obtaining proper consent. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said that the “indiscriminate collection” of such data “will not be tolerated.”
It said that Google has been collecting biometric data of the Texan citizens since at least 2015 and used their faces and their voices to serve its commercial ends. The collection occurred through products like Google Photos, Google Assistant, and Nest Hub Max.
In the complaint, Texas says that companies operating in the state have been banned for more than a decade from collecting people’s faces, voices, or other biometric data without advanced, informed consent.
In Google Photos, Google scans uploaded images to identify and categorize pictured subjects, including people who may not have been aware their faces would be analyzed or stored. The company has also allegedly listened in on Texans “without regard to whether a speaker has consented to Google’s indiscriminate voice printing.”
The lawsuit is one of several filed by states against Google alleging unfair practices regarding privacy. Arizona settled one in early October for $85 million. Texas, Indiana, Washington State and the District of Columbia sued Google in January over deceptive location-tracking practices that invade users’ privacy.
