Texas sues Meta over Facebook's past facial recognition practices

AppleInsider

Texas's attorney general has filed a lawsuit against Meta that claims Facebook's facial recognition policies resulted in "tens of millions" of state privacy violations.

Zuckerberg Meta

The lawsuit, which was filed in a Texas district court on Monday by Attorney General Ken Paxton, focuses on the company's capture of biometric data in user-uploaded photos. Facebook carried out the practice from 2010 until November 2021, when it shut down the program.

"Facebook has been secretly harvesting Texans' most personal information-- photos and videos-- for its own corporate profit," Paxton said in a statement. "Texas law has prohibited such harvesting without informed consent for over 20 years."

Meta said the claims are "without merit" and added that it would defend itself "vigorously."

At the time, Facebook's practice focused on identifying users in photos and automatically notifying them if they appeared in photos or videos uploaded by another person.

Texas is seeking civil penalties that could amount in the hundreds of billions of dollars, a person familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal.

In 2020, Facebook settled a prior lawsuit in Illinois over its facial recognition practices for around $650 million. After the settlement became known to the public, Texas sent a civil subpoena to the social media juggernaut inquiring about the facial recognition system.

Along with shutting down the automatic facial recognition, Facebook also said that it would limit the use of the technology and delete all stored facial data.

Texas state law prohibits the capturing of biometric identifiers without a person's informed consent. It also bars companies from sharing that biometric data.

While the Texas law can only be enforced by the state attorney general, it provides for a penalty of up to $25,000 per violation. Back in 2021, there were an estimated 20 million Texans on Facebook, the complaint claims.

Read on AppleInsider

foregoneconclusion

This is the same Texas state government that has made drastic changes to voting laws to try and reduce the number of citizens that can successfully cast a vote in the state.

F_Kent_D

foregoneconclusion said:

This is the same Texas state government that has made drastic changes to voting laws to try and reduce the number of citizens that can successfully cast a vote in the state.

Based on your inaccurate comment it doesn’t seem to me you live in Texas. I’ve lived in Texas for my 43 years and the government has never tried to reduce the amount of people that can vote. We actually have opened early voting for extended periods of time, more than most states by a lot, and the state allows anyone to cast a provisional ballot that if needed any government issued or even a school issued ID is sufficient. You cannot tell me that even thou you’re required to have an ID to lease an apartment or any housing but it’s not okay to require that same ID to cast a ballot for an election. You’ve been fed wrong information watching CNN and reading The Washington Compost

Xed

F_Kent_D said:

foregoneconclusion said:

This is the same Texas state government that has made drastic changes to voting laws to try and reduce the number of citizens that can successfully cast a vote in the state.

Based on your inaccurate comment it doesn’t seem to me you live in Texas. I’ve lived in Texas for my 43 years and the government has never tried to reduce the amount of people that can vote. We actually have opened early voting for extended periods of time, more than most states by a lot, and the state allows anyone to cast a provisional ballot that if needed any government issued or even a school issued ID is sufficient. You cannot tell me that even thou you’re required to have an ID to lease an apartment or any housing but it’s not okay to require that same ID to cast a ballot for an election. You’ve been fed wrong information watching CNN and reading The Washington Compost

Someone needs to read more about their state laws. FB and Qanon groups aren't cutting it.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/07/politics/what-texas-voting-bill-does/index.html

Oops. I linked to article from CNN. I guess that means it's automatically all "fake news". 🙄

bloggerblog

AI, your videos are sooo annoying and hard to dismiss!! My brain has developed a mental association with your videos as being annoying, even though I don't often watch them.
First, I always have to pause the videos because I'm trying to focus on reading the article, the video often has nothing to do with the article! Then, while scrolling, the video pops out again and sticks to the far right side of my screen. And as if that's not enough, the X sits right behind the scroll bar so I have to wait until the scrollbar disappears before I am able to click it!
Do you have someone on your team that can fix the experience and plan for a successful roadmap for your videos effort? I don't think your videos are meeting a desired objective, unless that objective is to be super annoying!

22july2013

Does anyone mind if my post is relevant to the article?

Hundreds of billions in penalties? Divide that by the population of Texas (30 million) and you get about $10,000 per citizen in Texas.

Hopefully illegal immigrants would not be eligible for any of that money.

bloggerblog

22july2013 said:

Does anyone mind if my post is relevant to the article?

Hundreds of billions in penalties? Divide that by the population of Texas (30 million) and you get about $10,000 per citizen in Texas.

Hopefully illegal immigrants would not be eligible for any of that money.

That money is not gonna offset taxes, help the needy, improve infrastructure, or be unselfishly get distributed among Texans. As usual, it'll endup in a very small group's pockets. Offshore bank accounts will be opened, yachts and vacation houses will be bought, and you'll be told how Mexicans are a burden on society to keep you distracted.

crowley

22july2013 said:

Does anyone mind if my post is relevant to the article?

Hundreds of billions in penalties? Divide that by the population of Texas (30 million) and you get about $10,000 per citizen in Texas.

Hopefully illegal immigrants would not be eligible for any of that money.

If illegal immigrants had their privacy violated by Facebook why shouldn't they get the same compensation as anyone else?

Pettiness?

NinjaMan

Xed said:

F_Kent_D said:

foregoneconclusion said:

This is the same Texas state government that has made drastic changes to voting laws to try and reduce the number of citizens that can successfully cast a vote in the state.

Based on your inaccurate comment it doesn’t seem to me you live in Texas. I’ve lived in Texas for my 43 years and the government has never tried to reduce the amount of people that can vote. We actually have opened early voting for extended periods of time, more than most states by a lot, and the state allows anyone to cast a provisional ballot that if needed any government issued or even a school issued ID is sufficient. You cannot tell me that even thou you’re required to have an ID to lease an apartment or any housing but it’s not okay to require that same ID to cast a ballot for an election. You’ve been fed wrong information watching CNN and reading The Washington Compost

Someone needs to read more about their state laws. FB and Qanon groups aren't cutting it.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/07/politics/what-texas-voting-bill-does/index.html

Oops. I linked to article from CNN. I guess that means it's automatically all "fake news". 🙄

How is structuring an accountable voting system to limit fraudulent votes reducing the number of citizens who can successfully vote? There's absolutely nothing in that article that demonstrates a blocking in someone's ability to vote - does removing 24hr voting inconvenience some, maybe, but 6am to 10pm still gives you 16 out of 24hrs to cast a vote so it's not impossible - people can go before work or afterwork regardless of their shift. Texas actually has a State law in place that says employers are NOT allowed to prevent an employee from voting: https://www.twc.state.tx.us/news/efte/voting_time_off.html so exactly how are people are the number of citizens being reduce? 

StrangeDays

F_Kent_D said:

foregoneconclusion said:

This is the same Texas state government that has made drastic changes to voting laws to try and reduce the number of citizens that can successfully cast a vote in the state.

Based on your inaccurate comment it doesn’t seem to me you live in Texas. I’ve lived in Texas for my 43 years and the government has never tried to reduce the amount of people that can vote. We actually have opened early voting for extended periods of time, more than most states by a lot, and the state allows anyone to cast a provisional ballot that if needed any government issued or even a school issued ID is sufficient. You cannot tell me that even thou you’re required to have an ID to lease an apartment or any housing but it’s not okay to require that same ID to cast a ballot for an election. You’ve been fed wrong information watching CNN and reading The Washington Compost

Incorrect. Voting is a right, renting an apartment isn't -- thus it's unconstitutional to require ID which require fees, time off from work for all-day commitments at the DMV, owning a vehicle, etc. Most of the western world has figured this out -- voter registration is automatic.

Texas's incompetent governor Abbot removed ballot drop-off boxes in heavily populated, Democrat-voting districts. This is 100% gaming the system. That's how the GOP rolls and it's not even a secret.

As for relevant location, I’m in the state right next to TX and follow its news. My state housed refugees from TX when its power grid failed because it was cold out, while the state’s senator fled to Mexico then blamed it on his kids.

wonkothesane

bloggerblog said:

AI, your videos are sooo annoying and hard to dismiss!! My brain has developed a mental association with your videos as being annoying, even though I don't often watch them.
First, I always have to pause the videos because I'm trying to focus on reading the article, the video often has nothing to do with the article! Then, while scrolling, the video pops out again and sticks to the far right side of my screen. And as if that's not enough, the X sits right behind the scroll bar so I have to wait until the scrollbar disappears before I am able to click it!
Do you have someone on your team that can fix the experience and plan for a successful roadmap for your videos effort? I don't think your videos are meeting a desired objective, unless that objective is to be super annoying!

I find those videos also very annoying in their behavior. Therefore, I auto-switch to reader mode which eliminates the video. 

Xed

StrangeDays said:

F_Kent_D said:

foregoneconclusion said:

This is the same Texas state government that has made drastic changes to voting laws to try and reduce the number of citizens that can successfully cast a vote in the state.

Based on your inaccurate comment it doesn’t seem to me you live in Texas. I’ve lived in Texas for my 43 years and the government has never tried to reduce the amount of people that can vote. We actually have opened early voting for extended periods of time, more than most states by a lot, and the state allows anyone to cast a provisional ballot that if needed any government issued or even a school issued ID is sufficient. You cannot tell me that even thou you’re required to have an ID to lease an apartment or any housing but it’s not okay to require that same ID to cast a ballot for an election. You’ve been fed wrong information watching CNN and reading The Washington Compost

Incorrect. Voting is a right, renting an apartment isn't -- thus it's unconstitutional to require ID which require fees, time off from work for all-day commitments at the DMV, etc. Most of the western world has figured this out -- voter registration is automatic.

Texas's incompetent governor Abbot removed ballot drop-off boxes in heavily populated, Democrat-voting districts. This is 100% gaming the system. That's how the GOP rolls and it's not even a secret.

As for relevant location, I’m in the state right next to TX and follow its news. My state housed refugees from your state when the TX power grid failed because it was cold out.

Maybe he wants to got further and restrict voting to only white men who own land. Repeal the 14th. /s

Xed

NinjaMan said:

Xed said:

F_Kent_D said:

foregoneconclusion said:

This is the same Texas state government that has made drastic changes to voting laws to try and reduce the number of citizens that can successfully cast a vote in the state.

Based on your inaccurate comment it doesn’t seem to me you live in Texas. I’ve lived in Texas for my 43 years and the government has never tried to reduce the amount of people that can vote. We actually have opened early voting for extended periods of time, more than most states by a lot, and the state allows anyone to cast a provisional ballot that if needed any government issued or even a school issued ID is sufficient. You cannot tell me that even thou you’re required to have an ID to lease an apartment or any housing but it’s not okay to require that same ID to cast a ballot for an election. You’ve been fed wrong information watching CNN and reading The Washington Compost

Someone needs to read more about their state laws. FB and Qanon groups aren't cutting it.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/07/politics/what-texas-voting-bill-does/index.html

Oops. I linked to article from CNN. I guess that means it's automatically all "fake news". 🙄

How is structuring an accountable voting system to limit fraudulent votes reducing the number of citizens who can successfully vote? There's absolutely nothing in that article that demonstrates a blocking in someone's ability to vote - does removing 24hr voting inconvenience some, maybe, but 6am to 10pm still gives you 16 out of 24hrs to cast a vote so it's not impossible - people can go before work or afterwork regardless of their shift. Texas actually has a State law in place that says employers are NOT allowed to prevent an employee from voting: https://www.twc.state.tx.us/news/efte/voting_time_off.html so exactly how are people are the number of citizens being reduce? 

You're asking how creating voter laws that are purposely designed to restrict the votes of minorities could possibly reduce their ability to vote? If that's a head scratcher to you then maybe you shouldn't vote.

PS: Next time why don't you bring up how gerrymandering is perfectly fine so long as it benefits your party.

fastasleep

22july2013 said:

Does anyone mind if my post is relevant to the article?

Hundreds of billions in penalties? Divide that by the population of Texas (30 million) and you get about $10,000 per citizen in Texas.

FTFA: "While the Texas law can only be enforced by the state attorney general, it provides for a penalty of up to $25,000 per violation. Back in 2021, there were an estimated 20 million Texans on Facebook, the complaint claims."

Hopefully illegal immigrants would not be eligible for any of that money.

Nice drive-by xenophobia. Why would you care if any of the claimants were illegal immigrants? What business is it of yours?

fastasleep

NinjaMan said:

Xed said:

F_Kent_D said:

foregoneconclusion said:

This is the same Texas state government that has made drastic changes to voting laws to try and reduce the number of citizens that can successfully cast a vote in the state.

Based on your inaccurate comment it doesn’t seem to me you live in Texas. I’ve lived in Texas for my 43 years and the government has never tried to reduce the amount of people that can vote. We actually have opened early voting for extended periods of time, more than most states by a lot, and the state allows anyone to cast a provisional ballot that if needed any government issued or even a school issued ID is sufficient. You cannot tell me that even thou you’re required to have an ID to lease an apartment or any housing but it’s not okay to require that same ID to cast a ballot for an election. You’ve been fed wrong information watching CNN and reading The Washington Compost

Someone needs to read more about their state laws. FB and Qanon groups aren't cutting it.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/07/politics/what-texas-voting-bill-does/index.html

Oops. I linked to article from CNN. I guess that means it's automatically all "fake news". 🙄

How is structuring an accountable voting system to limit fraudulent votes reducing the number of citizens who can successfully vote? There's absolutely nothing in that article that demonstrates a blocking in someone's ability to vote - does removing 24hr voting inconvenience some, maybe, but 6am to 10pm still gives you 16 out of 24hrs to cast a vote so it's not impossible - people can go before work or afterwork regardless of their shift. Texas actually has a State law in place that says employers are NOT allowed to prevent an employee from voting: https://www.twc.state.tx.us/news/efte/voting_time_off.html so exactly how are people are the number of citizens being reduce? 

I love how people pretend like rampant voter fraud is an actual problem that needs solving (it isn't) and that further restricting voting is a necessary step to further secure elections (it isn't). It's well documented who these restrictions overwhelmingly target, and which side is responsible for instigating these bullshit pieces of legislation. There is no data to support the allegations of voter fraud as we've seen over and over again. You're either being willfully obtuse to support your indefensible position on the subject, or you're an abject moron.

chadbag

Xed said:

F_Kent_D said:

foregoneconclusion said:

This is the same Texas state government that has made drastic changes to voting laws to try and reduce the number of citizens that can successfully cast a vote in the state.

Based on your inaccurate comment it doesn’t seem to me you live in Texas. I’ve lived in Texas for my 43 years and the government has never tried to reduce the amount of people that can vote. We actually have opened early voting for extended periods of time, more than most states by a lot, and the state allows anyone to cast a provisional ballot that if needed any government issued or even a school issued ID is sufficient. You cannot tell me that even thou you’re required to have an ID to lease an apartment or any housing but it’s not okay to require that same ID to cast a ballot for an election. You’ve been fed wrong information watching CNN and reading The Washington Compost

Someone needs to read more about their state laws. FB and Qanon groups aren't cutting it.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/07/politics/what-texas-voting-bill-does/index.html

Oops. I linked to article from CNN. I guess that means it's automatically all "fake news". 🙄

🙄🙄indeed.   None of those things listed in the article are to reduce the number of citizens that can successfully cast a vote.   They are to make it harder to cast invalid votes.  They ate all common sense.  

chadbag

fastasleep said:

NinjaMan said:

Xed said:

F_Kent_D said:

foregoneconclusion said:

This is the same Texas state government that has made drastic changes to voting laws to try and reduce the number of citizens that can successfully cast a vote in the state.

Based on your inaccurate comment it doesn’t seem to me you live in Texas. I’ve lived in Texas for my 43 years and the government has never tried to reduce the amount of people that can vote. We actually have opened early voting for extended periods of time, more than most states by a lot, and the state allows anyone to cast a provisional ballot that if needed any government issued or even a school issued ID is sufficient. You cannot tell me that even thou you’re required to have an ID to lease an apartment or any housing but it’s not okay to require that same ID to cast a ballot for an election. You’ve been fed wrong information watching CNN and reading The Washington Compost

Someone needs to read more about their state laws. FB and Qanon groups aren't cutting it.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/07/politics/what-texas-voting-bill-does/index.html

Oops. I linked to article from CNN. I guess that means it's automatically all "fake news". 🙄

How is structuring an accountable voting system to limit fraudulent votes reducing the number of citizens who can successfully vote? There's absolutely nothing in that article that demonstrates a blocking in someone's ability to vote - does removing 24hr voting inconvenience some, maybe, but 6am to 10pm still gives you 16 out of 24hrs to cast a vote so it's not impossible - people can go before work or afterwork regardless of their shift. Texas actually has a State law in place that says employers are NOT allowed to prevent an employee from voting: https://www.twc.state.tx.us/news/efte/voting_time_off.html so exactly how are people are the number of citizens being reduce? 

I love how people pretend like rampant voter fraud is an actual problem that needs solving (it isn't) and that further restricting voting is a necessary step to further secure elections (it isn't). It's well documented who these restrictions overwhelmingly target, and which side is responsible for instigating these bullshit pieces of legislation. There is no data to support the allegations of voter fraud as we've seen over and over again. You're either being willfully obtuse to support your indefensible position on the subject, or you're an abject moron.

Oh really?? Well  documented who these “restrictions” target?   Let’s see that documentation from reliable sources.   

Did you know that African Americans overwhelmingly support voter ID laws?  And common sense voter integrity laws?

none of the Texas “restrictions” target any specific group, are common sense, and most target recent liberalizations that make no sense.  

And you better go tell Harvard that there is no voter fraud as they have well documented rates of voter fraud in studies of past elections (prior to the last election or two).  

godofbiscuits

F_Kent_D said:

foregoneconclusion said:

This is the same Texas state government that has made drastic changes to voting laws to try and reduce the number of citizens that can successfully cast a vote in the state.

Based on your inaccurate comment it doesn’t seem to me you live in Texas. I’ve lived in Texas for my 43 years and the government has never tried to reduce the amount of people that can vote. We actually have opened early voting for extended periods of time, more than most states by a lot, and the state allows anyone to cast a provisional ballot that if needed any government issued or even a school issued ID is sufficient. You cannot tell me that even thou you’re required to have an ID to lease an apartment or any housing but it’s not okay to require that same ID to cast a ballot for an election. You’ve been fed wrong information watching CNN and reading The Washington Compost

Raises hand.   I can.  Two words: poll tax.   

Renting an apartment isn't a constitutionally-guaranteed fundamental right.  Voting is.   

viclauyyc

chadbag said:

fastasleep said:

NinjaMan said:

Xed said:

F_Kent_D said:

foregoneconclusion said:

This is the same Texas state government that has made drastic changes to voting laws to try and reduce the number of citizens that can successfully cast a vote in the state.

Based on your inaccurate comment it doesn’t seem to me you live in Texas. I’ve lived in Texas for my 43 years and the government has never tried to reduce the amount of people that can vote. We actually have opened early voting for extended periods of time, more than most states by a lot, and the state allows anyone to cast a provisional ballot that if needed any government issued or even a school issued ID is sufficient. You cannot tell me that even thou you’re required to have an ID to lease an apartment or any housing but it’s not okay to require that same ID to cast a ballot for an election. You’ve been fed wrong information watching CNN and reading The Washington Compost

Someone needs to read more about their state laws. FB and Qanon groups aren't cutting it.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/07/politics/what-texas-voting-bill-does/index.html

Oops. I linked to article from CNN. I guess that means it's automatically all "fake news". 🙄

How is structuring an accountable voting system to limit fraudulent votes reducing the number of citizens who can successfully vote? There's absolutely nothing in that article that demonstrates a blocking in someone's ability to vote - does removing 24hr voting inconvenience some, maybe, but 6am to 10pm still gives you 16 out of 24hrs to cast a vote so it's not impossible - people can go before work or afterwork regardless of their shift. Texas actually has a State law in place that says employers are NOT allowed to prevent an employee from voting: https://www.twc.state.tx.us/news/efte/voting_time_off.html so exactly how are people are the number of citizens being reduce? 

I love how people pretend like rampant voter fraud is an actual problem that needs solving (it isn't) and that further restricting voting is a necessary step to further secure elections (it isn't). It's well documented who these restrictions overwhelmingly target, and which side is responsible for instigating these bullshit pieces of legislation. There is no data to support the allegations of voter fraud as we've seen over and over again. You're either being willfully obtuse to support your indefensible position on the subject, or you're an abject moron.

Oh really?? Well  documented who these “restrictions” target?   Let’s see that documentation from reliable sources.   

Did you know that African Americans overwhelmingly support voter ID laws?  And common sense voter integrity laws?

none of the Texas “restrictions” target any specific group, are common sense, and most target recent liberalizations that make no sense.  

And you better go tell Harvard that there is no voter fraud as they have well documented rates of voter fraud in studies of past elections (prior to the last election or two).  

Your source?

mac_dog

What do you think those “filters” on Instagram do?

riverko

StrangeDays said:

Incorrect. Voting is a right, renting an apartment isn't -- thus it's unconstitutional to require ID which require fees, time off from work for all-day commitments at the DMV, owning a vehicle, etc. Most of the western world has figured this out -- voter registration is automatic.

Yes, in my country all voters are automatically registered. But we have to present our ID at the moment of voting. Because having ID is simply mandatory for all citizens… how else you would prove that you’re the one with the right to votr, avoid multiple voting etc… drawing red mark with unwashable paint on voter’s forehead?