Texas Sues Google for Allegedly Capturing Biometric Data of Millions Without Consent (reuters.com) 38
Texas has filed a lawsuit against Alphabet's Google for allegedly collecting biometric data of millions of Texans without obtaining proper consent, the attorney general's office said in a statement on Thursday. From a report: The complaint says that companies operating in Texas have been barred for more than a decade from collecting people's faces, voices or other biometric data without advanced, informed consent. "In blatant defiance of that law, Google has, since at least 2015, collected biometric data from innumerable Texans and used their faces and their voices to serve Google's commercial ends," the complaint said. "Indeed, all across the state, everyday Texans have become unwitting cash cows being milked by Google for profits."
Innumerable? (Score:2)
I see you using that word, I don't think it means what you think it does.
The population of Texas is clearly numerable and periodically enumerated by census. There can't be an innumerable number of Texans.
Re: (Score:2)
Sure there can. The population of Texas may be enumerable, but that doesn't mean you can do more than make a rough estimate of how many of them fall into any particular group. I.e., you can't count the group size, either because it's to ambiguously specified, or because the data needed to do the classification isn't available. Therefore they are innumerable.
Re: (Score:2)
The group size also changes regularly, as new people have their biometric data hoovered up by Google and maybe some old data gets purged.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Did you expect anything intelligent from Ken Paxton?
Re: (Score:2)
Clearly you were wrong because this is the same guy who fled for his life [cbsnews.com] to avoid being served a subpoena. And it was his wife who helped him flee because, according to the cucked coward, "he avoided the server out of safety concerns".
This coming from a supposed attorney general who regularly has his people serve subpoenas on others. Looks like anyone avoiding being served can use the same
Re: Innumerable? (Score:2)
I don't care what side of the fence Ken Paxton is on. He isn't qualified to be in any public position or any decision making position at any company or organization. My statement was not political or partisan. Just stating fact about an idiot. Biden sucks too and so does Trump. Sanders or DeSantis would also both suck as a leader. Maybe if people stopped voting on single issues and and conspiracy theories we'd get a leader who was qualified to lead.
Re: (Score:2)
Good point.
Re: (Score:2)
"Too many to be numbered".
Someone might be able to count the number of Texans but the census is always wrong... it's just an estimate.
Re: (Score:2)
Illegal immigrants passing through Texas are largely not counted in the census yet still subject to Texas law. Which means that biometric protections apply to them. Thus, innumerable is perfectly apt.
Re: Innumerable? (Score:1)
Once he uses up all of his fingers and toes, how's a Governor supposed to keep counting?
It doesn't help that all those Texans won't stand still....
Ewwwww. (Score:5, Funny)
"Indeed, all across the state, everyday Texans have become unwitting cash cows being milked by Google for profits."
Re: (Score:2)
So are they going after Apple, Microsoft, Tesla, Nintendo, Sony, and anyone else that uses some kind of audio or image recognition through live pickups next?
I can appreciate complaints, but there are are several companies using this sort of technology, and I very much doubt that any of their end user license agreements pass muster.
Apple does not use this data for commercial ends (Score:1, Interesting)
So are they going after Apple, Microsoft, Tesla, Nintendo, Sony,
Which of those companies use biometric data they collect without consent?
Apple for example doesn't send FaceID data off the device, so they cannot use it for advertising or AI training purposes.
But even there I'd imagine in the very long user agreement Apple has you sign, it may say something about that... it seems like Google would as well? But maybe the agreement they have you sign does not properly explain the vast number of ways Google ma
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
Apple for example doesn't send FaceID data off the device, so they cannot use it for advertising or AI training purposes.
First, that is adorably naive, and second, FaceID is not the beginning and end of biometric data. I don't know how you think Siri works, but it's not a little person in your phone figuring out what you are talking about.
But even there I'd imagine in the very long user agreement Apple has you sign, it may say something about that... it seems like Google would as well? But maybe the agreement they have you sign does not properly explain the vast number of ways Google may make use of it.
Just because something is in the EULA does not make it enforceable. I admittedly don't know what the Texas law says, since I haven't located the actual filing, but there are any number of things it could require - a particular type of disclosure, a minimum font size, specific agreement t
Big Machinery (Score:1)
The party of law-'n'-order, militarized policing, FBI, NSA, CIA, TSA, DHS, ICE, BATFE and the rest, have finally come to the realization that perhaps these agencies might not be friendly.
Maybe they have discovered the Third Party Doctrine end-run around the Constitution does not work in their favor.
"Once you've built the big machinery of political power, remember you won't always be the one to run it." -- P. J. O'Rourke
Re: (Score:2)
I agree. But there was a certain species that felt these agencies helped their agenda, while being immune themselves. Since the previous president found himself on the wrong end of the deep state, it is amusing to me to see the change in attitude, from regarding them as friends, to enemies.
So suddenly capturing all your data is a problem, when turning a blind eye before was ok. Yes, both side of the aisle.
Re: (Score:3)
Deep state? Look it, if you are going parrot Erdogan bullshit, go all the way and claim that democracy is like a bus and you'll get off when it doesn't serve your purpose.
Re: (Score:1)
democracy is like a bus
The very fact you don't udnrttand what a representative democracy is says it all really.
Enjoy your illusions while you can! No-one is getting off the bus we are on, too bad you misread the labeling. Clarity will be forthcoming.
I'll let you have the last response since you can't yet understand...
Terms of Use... (Score:2)
I think you'll find in the ToU contracts for all google products and sites that they contain clauses allowing them to gather all of the disputed biometric information and that the innumerable Texans actually have given the consent for the collection...
After all, you just need to say "Here's your cheap phone, just sign right here..." and the average joe will sign away anything...
Re: (Score:3)
Which depending on the construction of the law in question probably does not qualify as advanced informed consent. For certain things, more than a mere contract is needed. Surgery comes to mind. A doctor is legally required to go over possible complications from a surgery with you in the US.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Plenty of cases of identity theft garnered from credentials held be various companies that were leaked has led to people's lives being seriously hindered if not outright ruined.
Re: (Score:2)
... Do you think that surgery consent sprung into existence spontaneously? No, there are laws mandating that further step. Most of them state laws. That the usage may be silly does not change the fact that such laws are common.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
"Look at that Wookie!" (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Wasn't he the same guy that insisted on bringing "hacking" charges against someone reading HTML source code?
Great information. (Score:1)