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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton Prosecuting Allstate Insurance Company Suspected of illegally collecting, using and selling driving behavior data of more than 45 million Americans.
Paxton filed the lawsuit in Montgomery County, Texas, District Court on Monday morning. In the lawsuit, he accuses Allstate and its subsidiary data analytics company “Arity” of secretly using driving data from more than 45 million Americans’ mobile devices, in-car devices and vehicles to build “the world’s largest database of driving behavior,” including worth “Trillions of miles” 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. “Millions of Americans had their personal data stolen without their knowledge or knowledge.” Being sold to insurance companies without consent violates the law. Texans deserve better and we will hold all of these companies accountable.”
Allstate is one of the largest auto, home and life insurance companies in the United States, headquartered in Glenview, Illinois.
Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks at a rally for former President Donald Trump in Robstown, Texas, on October 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Nick Wagner, File)
The lawsuit alleges that in 2015, Allstate and Arity developed software and integrated it into multiple third-party apps so that when consumers downloaded the apps to their phones, they inadvertently downloaded tracking software. Once Allstate’s software is downloaded to a customer’s device, they can monitor the consumer’s location and activity in real time.
The company used driving data to justify improving customer satisfaction, according to lawsuit insurance rates and further profit by selling the data to third parties, including other insurance companies.
“Defendants (Allstate and Arity) never informed consumers of the vast amounts of data they collected, nor did they obtain consent from consumers for such data collection,” the lawsuit states. “Finally, defendants never informed consumers that defendants were analyzing, using, or using their sensitive data. And many ways to monetize it.”
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Allstate Corp. Chairman and CEO Tom Wilson listens during a CEO Initiative event in New York, U.S., Monday, Sept. 25, 2017. The CEO Initiative brings together CEOs from some of the world’s most enlightened companies to exchange best practices and leadership techniques, develop actionable solutions, and track tangible progress. (Misha Friedman/Bloomberg)
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Because tens of millions of Americans, including millions of Texans, were never informed that their driving data was being collected, Paxton argued that Allstate’s data collection program violated Texas data The Privacy and Security Act, the Data Brokers Act, and the Texas Insurance Code prohibit unfair and deceptive acts and practices in the insurance business.
He asked the court to permanently block Allstate from continuing to collect and use customer data and impose civil penalties of thousands of dollars per customer.
Paxton said the lawsuit is the first enforcement action brought by a state attorney general. data privacy laws.
Fox News Digital reached out to Allstate but did not immediately receive a response.
