Monitored in France and the United States, already sanctioned in Italy, Clearview AI suffered a new setback, this time in the United Kingdom.
The American company Clearview AI, which specializes in facial recognition technologies, has just been condemned in the United Kingdom. She will be forced to delete the personal data of British residents and pay a fine of 7.5 million pounds sterling (8.84 million euros).
A titanic biometric database
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s equivalent of the CNIL in France, found the company had breached UK data protection law. He is notably accused of having created a vast database used for facial recognition by seizing images and photos published on the internet and on social networks.
Clearview AI would have accumulated more than 20 billion face shots to build its database, without ever informing or asking permission from those concerned. She is now banned from collecting photos of UK residents and must additionally delete any that she already has.
The firm had already ceased trading in the UK, but continued to sell its database, containing personal information about the UK population, to customers in other countries.
The CNIL is also on the spot
John Edwards, head of the ICO since early 2022, explains that the services sold by Clearview AI “ allow the identification of individuals, but also the possibility of monitor their behavior “.
Italy had already cracked down a few weeks ago, fining the company 20 million euros and the obligation to delete all data relating to Italian residents. In the United States, Clearview AI had to resolve to stop selling its database to private companies.
In France, the company was put on notice by the CNIL last December and risks a sanction if it does not comply with the Commission’s requirements.
On the same subject :
Facial recognition: Clearview AI says it can identify almost everyone within a year
Source : The Verge
0