The Allstate Corp. filed a response Wednesday to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s suit against the company and its subsidiary Arity for collecting, using, and selling data. 

Paxton’s suit claims the companies illegally collected and sold the data about the location and movement of Texans’ cell phones through “secretly embedded software in mobile apps” such as Life360. It claims Allstate and Arity paid app developers for the data and then created a database used by Allstate and other insurers. 

“Arity IQ empowers consumers to take control of and customize their insurance pricing,” Allstate said in an emailed statement Wednesday. “Consumers do so by directing their insurer to request that Arity Services share insights about their driving data with insurers to receive pricing based on their driving behavior.” 

Allstate also said consumers receive multiple notices that their data is being collected and used and can opt out at any time. This includes a notice at app sign-up, it says. 

In the court response, Allstate argues that Arity is a separate and distinct legal entity from Allstate and that it processes driving behavior data after obtaining it through clear notice and consumer choice. 

“The Arity Companies and the insurance companies that use their services clearly and transparently disclose to every consumer if, when, and how any of the consumer’s data will be used in the insurance pricing and underwriting process,” the response says. 

The response claims that upon signing up for Life360 services, a user receives notice of and agrees to data collection and use, supported by Arity’s technology. It also states that when a Life360 user solicits a quote from an insurance carrier, the carrier offers the consumer the option of using or not using their existing past driving behavior data collected through Life360 to obtain insights or a score that would be used to calculate their insurance rate. 

Arity’s Routely app is also used by insurance carriers, the response says. A consumer has the option to download the Routely app and opt into the use of their driving data for the express purpose of providing future driving behavior data to their insurer, often in exchange for “safe driving” discounts on insurance premiums, it says.

Arity also provides Arity IQ, a driving score based on aggregated insights, to consumers, the response says. 

“Arity IQ empowers consumers to take control of and customize their insurance pricing,” the response says. “Consumers do so by directing their insurer to request that Arity Services share insights about their driving data with insurers to receive pricing based on their driving behavior.”

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Feature Photo courtesy of Brett_Hondow/iStock

Screenshots of Life360 and Allstate apps/Allstate