UK ICO to fine Clearview AI £17 million for data protection law breaches

By Michael Hill for CSO
Tuesday, November 30, 2021

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The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has announced its provisional intent to impose a potential fine of just over £17 million (about $22.7 million USD) on facial recognition firm Clearview AI, Inc., for failing to comply with data protection laws. The announcement follows a joint investigation by the ICO and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), which focused on Clearview AI’s use of images, data scraped from the internet, and the use of biometrics for facial recognition.

Potential fine “surprisingly small and lenient”

For Ilia Kolochenko, founder of ImmuniWeb and a member of Europol Data Protection Experts Network, the £17m fine is surprisingly small and lenient. “Other companies, recently fined for data breaches, for example, were punished with much larger fines whereas much less personal data was stolen,” he said in a statement. “Clearview AI has allegedly collected and processed over 10 billion individual photos without notice, let alone valid consent. The personal life and privacy of many UK and EU residents are jeopardized for commercial gain stemming from the unlawful processing of personal data.” Read Full Article