Simultaneously, similar complaints were filed by Hermes Centre for Transparency and Digital Human Rights in Italy, Homo Digitalis in Greece, and noyb - the European Center for Digital Rights in Austria.Ĭlearview is a facial recognition company claiming to have built 'the largest known database of 3+ billion facial images'. On, Privacy International (PI) filed complaints against Clearview AI with the UK and French data protection authorities (ICO and CNIL). Garante per la protezione dei dati personali (Italy) Hoan Ton-That, Clearview AI’s chief executive, said: “I am deeply disappointed that the UK Information Commissioner has misinterpreted my technology and intentions … I would welcome the opportunity to engage in conversation with leaders and lawmakers so the true value of this technology, which has proven so essential to law enforcement, can continue to make communities safe.Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) (UK)Ĭommission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL) (France)

The New York-based company will continue offering its services to federal agencies, such as US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and to other law enforcement agencies and government contractors outside Illinois, where the lawsuit was brought. Last week Clearview agreed to permanently stop selling access to its face database to private businesses or individuals around the US. The ICO said this may have put off people who wished to object about their presence on the database. It said Clearview AI asked for additional information from people, including photos, when they contacted the company to ask if they were on the database. The ICO said Clearview AI broke UK data protection laws in several ways, including: failing to use information of UK residents in a fair and transparent way failing to have a lawful reason for collecting that information and failing to have a process in place to stop the data being retained indefinitely.

The app then provides a list of images deemed similar to the photo provided by the customer, with a link to the websites where the images came from.

The ICO did not disclose the number of UK facial images held by Clearview AI, but said the company had harvested a “substantial” amount of data.Ĭlearview AI customers can upload an image of a person to the company’s app, which is then checked against a database. The £7.5m final sum is the third largest ever imposed by the ICO.Īnnouncing its provisional decision last year, the ICO said Clearview AI’s technology had been offered on a “free trial basis” to UK law enforcement agencies, although that trial has been discontinued.Ĭlearview AI’s services are no longer being offered in the UK – where previous clients included the Metropolitan police and the National Crime Agency – but the ICO said on Monday it still had customers abroad, so it was still using the data of UK residents. The ICO said on Monday it had reduced the fine after taking into consideration a number of factors including representations from the company. The ICO, which conducted the investigation in tandem with its Australian counterpart, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, had announced a “provisional” intention to fine Clearview AI £17m last November.

Italy clearview ai orders data deleted