IThe Privacy Guarantor has sanctioned Clearview AI for 20 million euros attributing to the company the use of the biometric data of people present on the Italian territory. The company was sanctioned for starting a real one biometric monitoring, bypassing privacy regulations.
The Privacy Guarantor has sanctioned Clearview AI
Clearview AI said it has a database of over 10 billion face images of people from around the world. These images were extracted from public web sources via web scaping. The company offers a search system that, using AI, is able to create profiles based on biometric data extracted from the images and enriched by other information such as the title or the geolocation of the photo.
The sanction and its reasons
According to the findings of the investigation by the Privacy Guarantor, Clearview AI allows the tracking of Italian citizens and all people located in Italy. Personal data, including biometric data and those related to geolocation, are processed unlawfully and without any adequate legal basis. Clearview Ai, underlines the Guarantor, violated the basic principles of the GDPR starting fromtransparency obligation. It should be noted that the Guarantor, in addition to the 20 million euro fine, imposed on the company a delete data relating to persons present in Italy and prohibited further collection. The company will have to designate a representative for the EU territory.
Full details on the matter are available on the website of the Privacy Guarantor.