The lawsuit alleges that Google violated state laws by collecting biometric data on facial features and voice without obtaining full consent from users. This practice is claimed to have been going on since 2015 and has affected millions of state residents.

Google itself again

According to the plaintiff, Google uses Google Photos and Google Assistant, as well as Nest smart home products, to collect and store facial and voice recognition data.

Google’s random collection of Texan personal information, including highly sensitive information such as biometric identifiers, will not be tolerated. I will continue to fight big technology to ensure the privacy and security of all Texans.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said.

Instead, Google representatives say Paxton has “once again mischaracterized our products in another suffocating case.” They note that Google Photos helps users edit their photos with an easy-to-turn feature, and the same goes for the company’s other services.

Allegation Claims that Google uses this data for commercial purposessuch as developing and selling artificial intelligence algorithms. The Texas Biometric Collection and Use Act of 2009 prohibits the collection and sharing of biometric information in the state without express permission.

Google has spent years illegally capturing the faces and voices of both non-consent and non-consent users in Texas, including our children and grandparents, who were unaware that their biometric information was being extracted for profit by a global company.
– Says Texas’s complaint.

Who is Ken Paxton?

• Ken Paxton, who is about to be reelected next month, has been and remains one of the tech industry’s loudest critics.
• His office has also argued in support of a Texas law that prohibits social media platforms from blocking or removing posts based on a speaker’s perspective.
• Texas also leads a coalition of states that are suing Google for allegedly engaging in anti-competitive behavior in online advertising markets. Google denies the claims, calling some of them misleading. Last month, a federal judge denied most of Google’s requests to end the lawsuits.