Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing Allstate Insurance Company for allegedly illegally collecting, using and selling driving behavior data on more than 45 million Americans.
Paxton filed the lawsuit Monday morning in Montgomery County, Texas District Court. In his lawsuit, he alleges that Allstate and its data analytics subsidiary, Arity, secretly used driving data from more than 45 million Americans' mobile devices, in-vehicle devices, and vehicles to: It is accused of building the “world's largest database of driving behavior”. “Trillion miles” worth of data.
“Our investigation revealed that Allstate and Arity paid millions of dollars to install Allstate's tracking software,” Paxton said in a statement Monday. “The personal data of millions of Americans was sold to insurance companies without their knowledge or consent, in violation of the law. Texans deserve better rights, and we will We will hold the company responsible.”
Allstate, headquartered in Glenview, Illinois, is one of the largest auto, home and life insurance companies in the United States.
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Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks at a rally featuring former President Trump on October 22, 2022 in Robstown, Texas. (AP Photo/Nick Wagner, File)
According to the complaint, Allstate and Arity developed software in 2015 and integrated it into several third-party apps, so that when consumers downloaded those apps to their phones, they also unknowingly downloaded tracking software. It is said that it will be done. Once downloaded to a customer's device, Allstate's software allows for real-time monitoring of the consumer's location and movements.
According to the complaint, the company used driving data to justify increases in customers' insurance premiums and made further profits by selling that data to third parties, including other insurance companies.
“Defendants [Allstate and Arity] “Defendants never informed consumers about their extensive data collection and never obtained consumer consent to engage in such data collection.Finally, Defendants never informed consumers about their extensive data collection and never obtained consumer consent to engage in such data collection. “They never informed consumers of the myriad ways to monetize,” the complaint said. data. “
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Allstate Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Tom Wilson speaks at a CEO Initiative event in New York on September 25, 2017. (Misha Friedman/Bloomberg)
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Tens of millions of Americans, including millions of Texans, were not informed that their driving data was being collected, making Allstate's data collection scheme a violation of the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act. , the Data Broker Act, and unfair and deceptive acts and practices in the insurance business that Mr. Paxton alleges violate the prohibitions of the Texas Insurance Act.
He is asking the court to permanently bar Allstate from continuing to collect and use customer data and impose civil penalties of thousands of dollars per customer.
The lawsuit is the first enforcement action brought by a state attorney general to enforce a comprehensive data privacy law, Paxton said.
Fox News Digital reached out to Allstate but did not immediately receive a response.
