Texas Saves Face

I am sure you’ve seen the Google Arts & Culture app making the rounds. Okay, you may not have seen the app, but you have likely seen the various posts showing a person’s photo with their museum doppelganger.

I tried to do it but quickly discovered it wasn’t available on my version of the app. That option just wasn’t showing up. I finally figured out why.

It appears that it is unavailable on the app if you are in Texas or Illinois.

Why? Because of state biometrics laws. Business and Commerce Code Chapter 503 forbids the collection of people’s “biometric identifiers,” such as retina scans, fingerprints and face scans, without their consent. The law states violators are subject to “a civil penalty of not more than $25,000 for each violation.”

In short, Texas doesn’t cotton to folks scanning Texan faces.

While I would like to see my museum twin, I am really kinda happy that a Texas law has made it illegal for Google to grab my face scan. Chalk one up for the Lone Star State!

by Chris Doelle

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