Texas Prosecutor Files Lawsuit Against Allstate and Arity for Illegal Data Collection
Texas Prosecutor Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against the company Allstate and its subsidiary Arity for illegal collection, use, and sale of data on movements of more than 45 million Americans. The companies are accused of embedding tracking code in mobile applications, allowing them to collect data on users’ location and movement without their knowledge or consent.
The collected information was used to analyze driving habits, enabling Allstate to adjust insurance service costs when applying for or renewing a policy. Additionally, the data were sold to other insurance companies, who used it in a similar manner.
According to the Prosecutor General’s statement, Allstate collected “trillions of miles” of location data to create the largest database of drivers’ behavior. This information was used to increase insurance premiums without informing customers, violating Texas law on confidentiality and data security (TDPSA) as users did not consent to targeted data collection.
In the claim, the Tracking Arity SDK embedded in popular applications such as Life360, Gasbuddy, Fuel Rewards, and Routely collected location data every 15 seconds if users granted geolocation access during installation, totaling over 115 million downloads on Google Play.
In addition, Allstate allegedly purchased location data directly from automotive companies like Toyota, Lexus, Mazda, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, Maserati, and Ram for similar purposes, further violating TDPSA, the law on data intermediaries, and the Texas Insurance Code.
The lawsuit requests the following measures:
- Civil fines of up to $7,500 for each violation of TDPSA and up to $10,000 for violations of the Texas Insurance Code
- Compensation for affected consumers’ losses
- Destruction of all illegally obtained data, including that shared with third parties
- Legal measures to prevent such actions in the future
Representatives of Allstate and Arity have stated that their actions comply with the law and that data usage