Italy's Watchdog Sanctioned Clearview AI, Ordered to Delete Data on Italians

Sophie Webster, Tech Times 09 March 2022, 02:03 pm

On Feb. 9, Italy's privacy watchdog announced that it had sanctioned Clearview AI, a controversial facial recognition firm that saves selfies of people off the internet. The firm has more than 10 billion faces saved in its database that it sells to law enforcement.

Italy Fines Clearview AI

The Italian watchdog also issued a €20 million or $22 million penalty for breaches of EU law and ordered Clearview AI to delete any data on Italians.

The watchdog also banned it from further processing the facial biometrics of its citizens, according to Real Hacker.

Its investigation began after several complaints and reports from citizens. The firm noted that there were breaches of privacy law after it was revealed that the firm had been tracking Italian citizens and those located in Italy.

The watchdog, Garante, said that its findings show that the personal data held by Clearview AI, including geolocation data and biometrics, are processed illegally, without an adequate legal basis, which can't be the legitimate interest of the facial recognition company.

Also Read: Clearview AI Wants to Collect 100 Billion Photos For Human Facial Recognition Database

Other General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR breaches it identified included transparency obligations, violations of purpose limitation, having used user data for purposes other than those for which they were published online, and breaches of data retention rules with no storage limit.

The Italian Authority said that Clearview AI's activity violated the freedoms of the data subjects, including their protection of confidentiality and the right not to be discriminated against.

Clearview AI's Statement

According to TechCrunch, Clearview AI's CEO Hoan Ton-That said that the company does not have a place of business in Italy or the EU, it does not have any customers in Italy or the EU, and it does not undertake any activities that would otherwise mean it is subject to the GDPR.

Ton-That added that Clearview AI only collects public data from the internet and complies with all privacy and law standards.

He said that Clearview AI and its operation are misinterpreted in Italy, where they do no business. He said that his intentions and those of his company have always been to help communities and their people to live better lives.

The sanction and the order to delete data is the strongest enforcement Clearview AI got from a European privacy watchdog, with the United Kingdom's ICO warning the company back in November 2021 of a possible fine when it also ordered Clearview AI to stop processing data on UK citizens, according to Bleeping Computer.

In December 2021, France's CNIL also ordered Clearview AI to cease processing citizens' data and gave it two months to delete any data it held but did not mention a financial sanction.

Whether Italy will be able to collect the $22 million penalties from the company, which is a US-based entity, is an entirely different question.

A spokesman for the DPA told TechCrunch that the company notified the decision on Feb. 9. Clearview AI will have to inform the Authority about the steps it needs to comply with, including the applicability of the GDPR and other relevant measures.