Clearview AI was fined €30.5 million ($33.7 million) by the Dutch Data Protection Authority (Dutch DPA) for breaking the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union (EU) by creating an “illegal database with billions of photos of faces,” including those of Dutch citizens.
In a press release, Dutch DPA chairman Aleid Wolfsen stated, “Facial recognition is a highly intrusive technology that you cannot simply unleash on anyone in the world.”
“If there is a photo of you on the Internet – and doesn’t that apply to all of us? – then you can end up in the database of Clearview and be tracked. This is not a doom scenario from a scary film. Nor is it something that could only be done in China.”
Clearview simulated intelligence has been in administrative serious trouble across a few nations, like the U.K., Australia, France, and Italy, over its act of scratching openly accessible data on the web to construct an immense data set containing in excess of 50 billion photographs of individuals’ countenances.
The individuals identified from these images are assigned a unique biometric code, which is then packaged as part of intelligence and investigative services offered to its law enforcement clients to “rapidly identify suspects, persons of interest, and victims to help solve and prevent crimes.” The Dutch DPA, as well as blaming Clearview for gathering clients’ facial information without their assent or information, said the organization “deficiently” illuminates individuals who are in its data set about how their information is utilized and that it doesn’t offer a component to get to their information upon demand.
As of now, Clearview just offers residents of six U.S. states – California, Colorado, Connecticut, Oregon, Utah, and Virginia – the ability to access, delete, and opt out of profiling.
It also claimed that the company with its headquarters in New York did not end the violations even after the investigation, despite being told to do so immediately or face an additional €5.1 million ($5.6 million) fine. Additionally, Dutch businesses are prohibited from utilizing Clearview’s services by the ruling.
“We are now going to investigate if we can hold the management of the company personally liable and fine them for directing those violations,” Wolfsen said.
“That liability already exists if directors know that the GDPR is being violated, have the authority to stop that, but omit to do so, and in this way consciously accept those violations.”
In a statement shared with the Associated Press, Clearview said it doesn’t fall under EU data protection regulations as it does not have a place of business in the Netherlands or the E.U. It also described the decision as “unlawful.”
