Texas Sues Meta over Facebook Facial Recognition Data
2022-02-21
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1The state of Texas is suing Facebook's parent company Meta over its collection of facial recognition data.
2The lawsuit, filed on February 14, accuses the social media company of illegally capturing biometric information from pictures and videos of users.
3Biometric systems are designed to collect biological data that is unique to each person in order to identify individuals.
4Facial recognition is one kind of biometric method.
5Such systems use similar methods to those used in fingerprinting technology.
6The lawsuit says that Facebook collected the biometric data for business purposes.
7It also accused the company of sharing the information with third parties and failing to destroy the information within a reasonable amount of time.
8Attorney General Ken Paxton took the case to a state court in Marshall, Texas.
9He said in a statement: "This is yet another example of Big Tech's deceitful business practices and it must stop. I will continue to fight for Texans' privacy and security."
10The lawsuit states that Meta's collection operation had stored "millions of biometric identifiers."
11These include information related to eye scans, voice recordings and hand and face features.
12The data came from photos and video users uploaded to Meta's social media services, including Facebook and Instagram.
13Paxton said the collection process had used "people and their children with the intent to turn a profit at the expense of one's safety and well-being."
14Under Texas law, companies are barred from gathering or using biometric data of an individual unless they have received that individual's permission to do so.
15State law also bars companies from sharing such data with others.
16A few exceptions to the rule include law enforcement.
17The Wall Street Journal reported that a person with knowledge of the lawsuit told the newspaper Texas was seeking hundreds of billions of dollars in damages.
18In 2020, Meta agreed to pay $650 million to settle a state lawsuit in Illinois that dealt with similar issues.
19In a statement, Meta promised to fight the accusations and said the lawsuit was "without merit."
20In November, the company announced it was ending its facial recognition system.
21The system was designed to identify users based on physical features in photos and videos.
22At the time, a Meta official said the company still saw facial recognition technology as a powerful tool.
23But the official noted that the situations where it can be helpful "need to be weighed against growing concerns about this technology as a whole."
24Last week, Meta settled a 10-year-old lawsuit related to another privacy issue.
25The company agreed to pay $90 million to a group of users who accused it of following their internet activity even after they had signed out of the Facebook social media service.
26As part of that lawsuit, Meta agreed to remove all the data it had "wrongfully collected" during 2010 and 2011.
27While the company denied wrongdoing, it agreed to settle the case to avoid the costs and risks of a trial, settlement papers showed.
28I'm Bryan Lynn.
1The state of Texas is suing Facebook's parent company Meta over its collection of facial recognition data. 2The lawsuit, filed on February 14, accuses the social media company of illegally capturing biometric information from pictures and videos of users. 3Biometric systems are designed to collect biological data that is unique to each person in order to identify individuals. Facial recognition is one kind of biometric method. Such systems use similar methods to those used in fingerprinting technology. 4The lawsuit says that Facebook collected the biometric data for business purposes. It also accused the company of sharing the information with third parties and failing to destroy the information within a reasonable amount of time. 5Attorney General Ken Paxton took the case to a state court in Marshall, Texas. He said in a statement: "This is yet another example of Big Tech's deceitful business practices and it must stop. I will continue to fight for Texans' privacy and security." 6The lawsuit states that Meta's collection operation had stored "millions of biometric identifiers." These include information related to eye scans, voice recordings and hand and face features. The data came from photos and video users uploaded to Meta's social media services, including Facebook and Instagram. 7Paxton said the collection process had used "people and their children with the intent to turn a profit at the expense of one's safety and well-being." 8Under Texas law, companies are barred from gathering or using biometric data of an individual unless they have received that individual's permission to do so. 9State law also bars companies from sharing such data with others. A few exceptions to the rule include law enforcement. 10The Wall Street Journal reported that a person with knowledge of the lawsuit told the newspaper Texas was seeking hundreds of billions of dollars in damages. In 2020, Meta agreed to pay $650 million to settle a state lawsuit in Illinois that dealt with similar issues. 11In a statement, Meta promised to fight the accusations and said the lawsuit was "without merit." 12In November, the company announced it was ending its facial recognition system. The system was designed to identify users based on physical features in photos and videos. 13At the time, a Meta official said the company still saw facial recognition technology as a powerful tool. But the official noted that the situations where it can be helpful "need to be weighed against growing concerns about this technology as a whole." 14Last week, Meta settled a 10-year-old lawsuit related to another privacy issue. The company agreed to pay $90 million to a group of users who accused it of following their internet activity even after they had signed out of the Facebook social media service. 15As part of that lawsuit, Meta agreed to remove all the data it had "wrongfully collected" during 2010 and 2011. While the company denied wrongdoing, it agreed to settle the case to avoid the costs and risks of a trial, settlement papers showed. 16I'm Bryan Lynn. 17Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English, based on reports from The Associated Press, Reuters and Facebook. 18____________________________________________________________ 19Words in This Story 20sue - v. to seek justice or right from (a person) by legal process 21lawsuit - n. a process by which a court of law makes a decision to end a disagreement between people or organizations 22unique - adj. different from everyone and everything else 23deceit - n. attempts to make someone believe something that is not true 24practice - n. the usual way of doing something 25scan - v. to use a special machine to read or copy (something, such as a photograph or a page of text) into a computer 26feature - n. a typical quality or important part of something 27intent - n. a purpose or aim 28at the expense of - phr. in a way that harms someone or something 29merit - n. good qualities that deserve praise 30We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page.