Did you know that Facebook was extracting biometric data from your images? That be because they never asked your permission. Which is why Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton just extracted a $1.4 billion settlement from them.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced the largest settlement ever obtained by a single state after he alleged that Meta, the parent company of Facebook, collected Texans’ biometric identifiers without their consent.
The $1.4 billion settlement announced Tuesday stemmed from the first lawsuit ever brought under the Texas Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier Act, which prohibits the capturing of an individual’s biometric identification such as retina, fingerprints, or hand geometry for a commercial purpose unless the the individual is informed and provides consent prior to capture.
“After vigorously pursuing justice for our citizens whose privacy rights were violated by Meta’s use of facial recognition software, I’m proud to announce that we have reached the largest settlement ever obtained from an action brought by a single State,” said Paxton.
“This historic settlement demonstrates our commitment to standing up to the world’s biggest technology companies and holding them accountable for breaking the law and violating Texans’ privacy rights. Any abuse of Texans’ sensitive data will be met with the full force of the law.”
In a statement to The Texan, Meta said, “We are pleased to resolve this matter, and look forward to exploring future opportunities to deepen our business investments in Texas, including potentially developing data centers.”
The Meta spokesperson also noted that there is no admission of wrongdoing in the settlement agreement.
Paxton sued Meta in 2022 alleging that “Facebook engaged in false, misleading, and deceptive acts and practices in violation of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection Act.”
Moreover, the lawsuit explains that Facebook has “built an Artificial Intelligence empire on the backs of Texans by deceiving them while capturing their most intimate data, thereby putting their well-being, safety, and security at risk.”
In 2011, Facebook introduced “Tag Suggestions,” a facial recognition feature that automatically tagged people in uploaded photos without informing Texans how it worked. The “tag” feature captured “the facial geometry of the people depicted” and led to Paxton alleging this action violated Texas law, thus leading to the state suing Meta for capturing facial data without consent and the $1.4 billion settlement.
Illegally stealing information to train AI seems to be a habit with Meta, which is why they’re being sued for using pirated books to train their AI.
$1.4 billion is a lot of cheddar, even to Meta. But will it change their ways about feeding every possible scrap of information to train an AI engine deep in the bowels of some giant data center? Probably not. Just about every software tech giant has decided that AI is The Next Big Thing, and seem to be pouring more money and resources into it rather than their ostensible “core” businesses.
Of course, Facebook’s core business is selling your data to other companies, so nothing new there. And AI is probably less of a money-losing boondoggle than their crappy Metaverse VR project, which they’ve lost (at least) $21 billion on despite nobody using the damn thing.
Knowing Facebook, this time next year we’ll probably be complaining about some completely different nefarious, illegal activity they’ll be undertaking…
Tags: AI, Facebook, Ken Paxton, Lawsuit, Media Watch, technology, Texas, The Texan News
So, did Facebook delete all the data they acquired and used illegally?
Or is the $1.4BB just the fee they paid the State of Texas to acquire and use data of Texas citizens?
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Bully for Paxton and his people for getting a good result!
However, while applaud Meta taking it in the neck, I must respectfully demur from the view that Meta’s VR project is a complete flop.
Yes, it has not done anything close to what Zuck envisioned (thank goodness). However, technically speaking the MQ3 headset is very, very good and less than 20% of the cost of the Apple system, and there are applications that can justify getting one.
Example: ACE Virtual Shooting. I reviewed it here:
https://www.shootingnewsweekly.com/2024/06/19/home-vr-training-ace-virtual-shooting/
Competitive practical shooters are flocking to it, and increasingly law enforcement trainers are too. ACE and other practical shooting simulators were the reason I bought a MQ3, and are quite literally the only thing I run on it. It has paid for itself many times over in saved ammo and range fees.
There similarly are virtual welding programs that are being used at technical schools to safely teach welding techniques and allow students to practice various methods, machine settings, etc.