Texas sues Google for alleged biometric data collection without consent

AUSTIN — Texas is suing Google for allegedly capturing and using the biometric data of millions of Texans without properly obtaining their informed consent, Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Thursday.

The complaint says the tech giant unlawfully violated Texans’ privacy by collecting biometric identifiers, including voiceprints and records of face geometry, through products and services like Google Photos, Google Assistant and Nest Hub Max. The company further used the information for its “own commercial interests,” the complaint alleges.

While Texas has had a law prohibiting the capturing of such information for more than a decade, the state alleges Google has been taking the information since at least 2015.

“Google’s indiscriminate collection of the personal information of Texans, including very sensitive information like biometric identifiers, will not be tolerated,” Paxton said in a statement. “I will continue to fight Big Tech to ensure the privacy and security of all Texans.”

In response, Google Spokesperson José Castañeda said Paxton is mischaracterizing the company's products in another "breathless lawsuit."

Castañeda said that Google Photos helps users organize pictures of people, by grouping similar faces, so they can easily find old photos. This, he said, is only visible to the user and can easily be turned off if chosen.

"We do not use photos or videos in Google Photos for advertising purposes. The same is true for Voice Match and Face Match on Nest Hub Max, which are off-by-default features that give users the option to let Google Assistant recognize their voice or face to show their information," Castañeda said. "We will set the record straight in court.”

In January, Texas joined Indiana, Washington state and the District of Columbia in a separate lawsuit against the company over what the states called “deceptive location-tracking practices” that invade users’ privacy.

That lawsuit alleged that Google claimed to allow users to control what information is available through adjusting their settings but continued to “surveil customers and profit from customer data.”

Castañeda also said then that the attorneys general were using inaccurate and outdated information in their assertions about the company’s settings and that Google continued to "provide robust controls for location data."