SAN ANTONIO – Allstate and its subsidiary, Arity, are being sued by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for allegedly collecting, using and selling data from Texans' cell phones unlawfully.
According to an online statement from the Attorney General’s Office, the data comes from embedded software in mobile apps, like Life360, which reported Texans' movement and location.
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The Attorney General said Allstate would use Arity, a data analytics company, to pay app developers and incorporate its software to track driving data from app users.
Allstate and other insurers then used the obtained data to justify raising Texans’ insurance rates.
According to the statement, Allstate created “the world’s largest driving behavior database” of over 45 million users with trillions of miles of location data.
Under Texas Law, this violates the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act (TDPSA), which creates protections for sensitive data, such as geolocation.
“Our investigation revealed that Allstate and Arity paid mobile apps millions of dollars to install Allstate’s tracking software,” said Attorney General Paxton. “The personal data of millions of Americans was sold to insurance companies without their knowledge or consent in violation of the law. Texans deserve better and we will hold all these companies accountable.”
The statement said Attorney General Paxton also sued General Motors for collecting and selling driving data from users.
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