The Dutch Data Protection Authority (AP) has fined Clearview AI €30.5 million for illegal data collection for facial recognition. If the American company continues to violate the law, additional fines of up to €5.1 million will be added.
Even after the investigation by the Dutch privacy watchdog, the maker of software for biometric surveillance has continued on the same path. Fines imposed in France and Greece have not been paid. Clearview has created a database with thirty billion photos of faces, including those of Dutch people. This violates legislation. Clearview automatically scrapes these photos from the internet and then converts them into a unique biometric code for each face. The people in question are not aware of this and have not given permission for this.
The company has no office in Europe. Other privacy regulators in Europe have previously fined Clearview, but the company does not appear to be changing its behavior. That is why the AP is looking for ways to ensure that Clearview stops the violations. Among other things, by investigating whether the company’s directors can be held personally responsible for the violations.
Forbidden
The AP warns that it is also prohibited to use Clearview’s services. The company provides services to intelligence and investigative services. Clearview customers can provide camera images to find out the identity of people who appear in the image. Minister Ferd Grapperhaus (Justice and Security) denied in 2021 that Clearview had been used for police work. Unlike in countries such as Belgium, Finland and Sweden, this system for real-time facial recognition has never been used operationally here.
Clearview says it only provides services to intelligence and investigative services outside the EU. AP chairman Aleid Wolfsen: ‘That’s bad enough. Don’t let this go any further. We need to draw a clear line when it comes to the incorrect use of this kind of technology.’ Facial recognition techniques such as the police’s Catch system are only permitted in very exceptional cases. For example, the police must then manage the software and database themselves, under strict conditions and under the watchful eye of the AP and other supervisors. Commercial companies may not be involved.
