Clearview AI fined for using photos in facial recognition database without permission

I recently watched ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part 1.’ Tom Cruise plays Ethan Hunt, head of the Impossible Missions Force, an off-the-books operation of the U.S. government that gets the job done when no one else can.

The movies are great because they combine over-the-top stunts with futuristic technology to accomplish the IMF’s missions. In the latest installment, U.S. intelligence uses facial recognition technology to locate Hunt at the Abu Dhabi Airport. Thankfully, his teammates, Benji and Luther, played by Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames, use their own computer wizardry to throw the government off Hunt’s scent.

While the ‘Mission: Impossible’ movies are exciting, they’re still fiction. Or are they?

The Data Protection Authority is an independent administrative body located in The Hague, Netherlands, and is tasked with enforcing the Dutch Personal Data Protection Act, the Police Data Act, the Municipal Personal Records Database Act and all other statutory regulations concerning the processing of personal data.

Earlier this month, the DPA assessed a fine of 30.5 million euros (or about $33.7 million) against Clearview AI, a facial recognition startup company out of New York. The fine is for an “illegal database” of billions of photos of faces that was created by the company. The DPA also warned Dutch businesses that using Clearview’s services is also banned.

According to the agency, Clearview created the database without informing people whose images were included, which amounted to serious breaches of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation. If the company continues to breach the EU’s GDPR, it faces additional noncompliance penalties of up to 5.1 million euros ($5.6 million).

“Facial recognition is a highly intrusive technology, that you cannot simply unleash on anyone in the world,” DPA chairman Aleid Wolfsen said in a statement. “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,” he said. Despite my comparison to ‘Mission: Impossible,’ Wolfsen asserts the technology is a reality and “is not a doom scenario from a scary film.”

The DPA insists that Clearview “has not objected to this decision and is therefore unable to appeal against the fine.” In a statement to The Associated Press, however, Jack Mulcaire, Clearview’s chief legal officer, said that the decision is “unlawful, devoid of due process and is unenforceable.”

“Clearview AI does not have a place of business in the Netherlands or the EU, it does not have any customers in the Netherlands or the EU, and does not undertake any activities that would otherwise mean it is subject to the GDPR,” he explained.

Mulcaire has been busy. In late 2022, France’s National Data Protection Commission fined Clearview AI 20 million euros (almost $22 million) for illegally collecting and processing faceprints of French citizens and insisted the company delete the images. In addition, Italy, Greece, the UK, Canada and Australia have also launched legal proceedings against the company.

This summer, Clearview reached a settlement in an Illinois lawsuit, that consolidated actions from around the U.S. against the company, alleging its massive photographic collection of faces violated the subjects’ privacy rights. The photos were pulled from social media and other internet sites to create a database that it sold to businesses, individuals and government entities. Clearview did not admit any liability as part of the settlement agreement, which experts believe could total more than $50 million.

It’s scary that a company is compiling our images without our permission. Although, if I had Tom Cruise’s face, I would gladly hand out my picture to everyone I could.

Reg Wydeven is a partner with the Appleton-based law firm of McCarty Law LLP. He can be reached at pcbusiness@postcrescent.com.

This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Clearview AI fined for using photos in facial recognition database