{"id":1709012,"date":"2022-10-24T12:48:48","date_gmt":"2022-10-24T16:48:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1709012"},"modified":"2022-10-24T12:48:55","modified_gmt":"2022-10-24T16:48:55","slug":"texas-takes-google-to-court-for-allegedly-harvesting-biometric-data-without-consent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/texas-takes-google-to-court-for-allegedly-harvesting-biometric-data-without-consent\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Takes Google To Court For Allegedly Harvesting Biometric Data Without Consent"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftexas-takes-google-to-court-for-allegedly-harvesting-biometric-data-without-consent%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1709012&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p><a href=\"http:\/\/dailywire.com\/topic\/texas\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Texas<\/a> Attorney General <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/ken-paxton\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ken Paxton<\/a>, a Republican, filed suit against <a href=\"http:\/\/dailywire.com\/topic\/google\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google<\/a> last week for alleged violations of state law against collecting biometric <a href=\"http:\/\/dailywire.com\/topic\/big-tech\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">data<\/a> without informed consent.<\/p>\n<p>The Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier Act, which the Lone Star State enacted in 2009, <a href=\"https:\/\/statutes.capitol.texas.gov\/Docs\/BC\/htm\/BC.503.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">prohibits<\/a> technology companies from using data such as retina or iris scans, fingerprints, voiceprints, or records of hand and face geometry for commercial purposes without permission. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texasattorneygeneral.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/press\/The%20State%20Of%20Texas&#039;s%20Petition%20(Google%20Biometrics).pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">complaint<\/a>, filed in the District Court of Midland County, Texas, argues that Google has collected such information in \u201cblatant defiance\u201d of the statute since at least 2015.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGoogle\u2019s indiscriminate collection of the personal information of Texans, including very sensitive information like biometric identifiers, will not be tolerated,\u201d Paxton remarked in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texasattorneygeneral.gov\/news\/releases\/paxton-sues-google-its-unauthorized-capture-and-use-biometric-data-and-violation-texans-privacy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">press release<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Among other examples, the lawsuit argues that Google Photos uses facial recognition technology for uploaded pictures, including those with nonconsenting bystanders, to render its algorithm \u201cbetter at scanning and analyzing faces\u201d through machine learning, thereby enhancing the company\u2019s commercial products. Likewise, Google Assistant allegedly collects voiceprints and uses the information to heighten the accuracy of voice recognition technology.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMany Texans do not realize that their contributions to the tech giant\u2019s financial growth include offering up for inspection two of the most uniquely personal features any individual has to call their own,\u201d the complaint continued. \u201cThe proliferation of the commercialization of Texans\u2019 personal biometric identifiers is as invasive as it is dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Paxton <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/texas-ag-ken-paxton-sues-facebook-for-using-unauthorized-biometric-data\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">filed suit<\/a> earlier this year against Meta, formerly called Facebook, because the company had allegedly stored millions of biometric identifiers uploaded by users as well as non-users. Facebook ended its facial recognition system last year following a class action lawsuit stemming from violations of Illinois privacy law, which the company settled for $650 million.<\/p>\n<p>Other technology companies have faced scrutiny from lawmakers over user data collection. Earlier this year, Amazon smart doorbell company Ring told Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) that the firm had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/amazon-handed-over-ring-doorbell-footage-to-authorities\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">provided law enforcement<\/a> with videos from user devices in emergency situations after making a \u201cgood-faith determination that there was an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury\u201d to someone needing information.<\/p>\n<p>The lawmaker said that the policy justifies passage of the Facial Recognition and Biometric Technology Moratorium Act, which would prohibit state and federal entities from accessing Americans\u2019 biometric data. \u201cAs my ongoing investigation into Amazon illustrates, it has become increasingly difficult for the public to move, assemble, and converse in public without being tracked and recorded,\u201d Markey said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.markey.senate.gov\/news\/press-releases\/senator-markeys-probe-into-amazon-ring-reveals-new-privacy-problems\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">press release<\/a>. \u201cWe cannot accept this as inevitable in our country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>More recently, a report from Forbes <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/tiktoks-parent-company-in-china-planned-to-use-platform-to-track-locations-of-specific-americans-report\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">revealed<\/a> that ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of the social media platform TikTok, planned to track the location of specific American citizens. The company\u2019s internal audit and risk department was originally meant to investigate misconduct from current and former employees, yet the team allegedly planned on multiple occasions to collect data about the location of an American who had never been employed by ByteDance.<\/p>\n<p>According to an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/tiktok-can-sidestep-apple-and-google-privacy-protections-giving-china-based-parent-company-full-access-to-user-data-report\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">analysis<\/a> from TheWrap released earlier this year, TikTok is sidestepping privacy protections from Apple and Google to collect user data, allowing ByteDance and third parties to access the information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, filed suit against Google last week for alleged violations of state law against collecting biometric data without informed consent. The Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier Act, which the Lone Star State enacted in 2009, prohibits technology companies from using data such as retina or iris scans, fingerprints, &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1709015,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1709012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1709012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1709012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1709012\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1709015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1709012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1709012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1709012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}