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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton launched a major data privacy and security initiative on Tuesday, establishing a team that will focus on enforcing Texas privacy laws.
The initiative will ensure that companies respect the privacy rights of Texans and safeguard their personal data, according to Paxton’s office.
“Any entity that abuses or exploits the confidential data of Texans will receive the full weight of the law. “Companies that collect and sell data unauthorizedly, financially harm consumers, or use artificial intelligence irresponsibly present risks to our citizens that we take very seriously,” Paxton said in a statement Tuesday.
Paxton has filed several lawsuits against tech giants related to these issues in recent years.
In 2022 he sued Meta, Facebook’s parent company, for allegedly using unauthorized biometric data. Paxton’s office accused Meta of storing millions of biometric identifiers contained in users’ photos and videos, often without consent, and of illegally exploiting the personal information of users and non-users. The lawsuit could be resolved with a settlement in the coming weeks, according to KeynoteUSA.
Paxton also sued Google in 2022, accusing the company of illegally collecting and indefinitely storing information about the facial geometry and voiceprints of Texans without their consent, regardless of whether they are Google users.
Paxton’s office said Tuesday that the new data privacy team will focus on enforcing Texas privacy protection laws, such as the Data Privacy and Security Act, which was passed last year. The new law requires all companies to obtain users’ consent before processing their sensitive personal data. The law also allows Texans to access any information a company has about them, delete it, or ask it to stop collecting it for targeted advertising or sales.
The new team will also seek to enforce other state laws related to biometric identifiers and deceptive practices, as well as federal health privacy and children’s online safety laws.
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