Clearview AI fined $33.7 million by Dutch data protection watchdog for ‘illegal database’ of faces

The Dutch data protection watchdog fined facial recognition startup Clearview AI 30.5 million euros ($33.7 million) for creating what the agency called an “illegal database” with billions of photos of faces.

The Netherlands Data Protection Agency, or DPA, has also warned Dutch companies that using Clearview’s services is also prohibited.

The data agency said New York-based Clearview “did not object to this decision and therefore cannot appeal the fine”.

But in an emailed statement to The Associated Press, Clearview’s legal director, Jack Mulcaire, said the decision was “unlawful, lacks due process and is unenforceable.”

The Dutch agency said the construction of the database and insufficient information of the people whose images appear in the database amounted to serious breaches of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR.

“Facial recognition is a highly intrusive technology that you can’t just unleash on anyone in the world,” DPA President Aleid Wolfsen said in a statement.

“If there’s a photo of you on the Internet – and doesn’t that apply to all of us? — then you can get into the Clearview database and be tracked. This is not a fatal scenario from a scary movie. Nor is it something that could only be done in China,” he said.

The DPA said that if Clearview does not stop violations of the regulation, it faces penalties for non-compliance of up to 5.1 million euros ($5.6 million) in addition to the fine.

Mulcaire said in his statement that Clearview was not subject to EU data protection regulations.

“Clearview AI does not have a place of business in the Netherlands or the EU, has no customers in the Netherlands or the EU, and does not carry out activities that would otherwise mean it is subject to the GDPR,” he said. .

In June, Clearview reached a settlement in an Illinois lawsuit claiming its massive collection of photographic faces violated subjects’ privacy rights, a deal that lawyers estimate could be worth more than $50 million of dollars. Clearview did not admit any liability as part of the settlement agreement.

The Illinois case consolidated US-wide lawsuits filed against Clearview, which mined photos from social media and elsewhere on the Internet to create a database that it sold to businesses, individuals and government entities.

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