The State of Texas sued Allstate on Monday, accusing the insurer of illegally tracking drivers on their phones through a subsidiary called Arity that claimed to have the “world’s largest database of driving behavior.”
“Allstate and Arity paid millions of dollars to mobile apps to install Allstate’s tracking software,” Ken Paxton, the state’s attorney general, said in a statement. “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 of these companies accountable.”
Allstate and Arity did not respond to requests for comment.
The New York Times reported last year that information about people’s driving behavior was collected through smartphone apps such as Life360 and GasBuddy and sold to Arity, an analytics company founded by Allstate. Arity was able to analyze data collected from people’s smartphones to determine how often they accelerated, braked suddenly, or were distracted by their phones while driving. It used this analysis to give them driving risk scores.
“Insurers then used that consumer’s data to justify raising their auto premiums, denying coverage, or dropping them from coverage,” according to the attorney general’s lawsuit, which accuses the companies of violating of state privacy laws.
According to the state lawsuit, filed in Montgomery County District Court, Arity has the location, movement and driving data of more than 45 million Americans who “never informed, nor consented,” to the continued collection and sale of their data.
Texas also sued General Motors last year for collecting consumer driving data, following a Times report that GM and other automakers were selling information about people’s driving to the insurance industry.
