Google agreed to pay Texas on Friday $ 1.4 billion to settle two litigation that accuses the privacy of the population by state monitoring and searching and gathering information about facial recognition.
The General Prosecutor of the State Ken Paxton, who secured the settlement, brought the actions in 2022 under the laws of Texas on the protection of personal data and deceptive business practices. Less than a year ago, he achieved a settlement with a meta, a parent company Facebook and Instagram of $ 1.4 billion, over accusations that have illegally identified the faces of users on its website.
Google settlement is the latest legal failure for the technical giant. Over the past two years, Google has lost a number of anti -nonopoleous cases after it has been found to have a monopoly on its app with app, search engine and advertising technology. For the last three weeks, she has spent in a search case to repel the US government request to distribute her business.
“Big Tech is not above the law,” Mr. Paxton said in his statement.
Google spokesman José Castañeda said the company has already changed its product policy. “This will settle a number of old claims, many of which have already been resolved elsewhere,” he said.
In recent years, personal data protection has become the main source of voltage between technological giants and regulators. In the absence of the Federal Personal Data Protection Act, states such as Texas and Washington approved the law to limit the collection of facial, voice and other biometric data.
According to these laws, Google and Meta were attacked by companies with the highest profile. Texas’s law, called Capture or use of a biometric identifierIt requires companies to apply for permission before using functions such as facial recognition or voice recognition technologies. The law allows the state to impose damages up to $ 25,000 for violations.
The lawsuit filed under this Act focused on the Google Photos application, which allowed people to look for photos of a specific person; Another Google camera that could send warnings when it recognized visitors at the door; And Google assistant, a virtual assistant who could learn up to six users’ votes and answer their questions.
Mr. Paxon filed a separate court This accused Google of introducing Texans by watching their personal data, even after they thought they had deactivated this feature. He added a complaint that the private setting of Google’s browsing, called Incognito mode, was not really private. These cases were listed according to the Act on Liciding Business Practice in Texas.
