Texas accuses Google of illegally collecting biometric data from millions of residents

The authorities of the US state of Texas filed a lawsuit against Google, accusing the company of years of illegal collection of biometric data from citizens, reports Reuters.

The lawsuit clarifies that Texas has had a law for more than a decade that prohibits companies from collecting photographs, voice recordings and other biometric data of people without their prior informed consent. At the same time, the lawsuit alleges, “In flagrant violation of this law, Google has, since at least 2015, collected biometric data from countless Texas residents and used their faces and voices for its commercial purposes. Indeed, across the state, ordinary Texans have become unwitting cash cows being milked by Google for profit.”

This is not the first lawsuit against Google in the US related to the mishandling of user data. In early October alone, the state of Arizona recovered $85 million from an American corporation for illegally collecting user location data. Lawsuits in this regard were filed in January of this year by Texas, Indiana, Washington State and the District of Columbia.

Google itself has not yet commented on the lawsuit alleging the unfair collection of Texans’ biometric data.

Kirill Sarkhanyants