Fast Facts

• European privacy group noyb has filed a criminal complaint against Clearview AI and its executives in Austria.
• Clearview AI collects billions of images from the internet to power its facial recognition database, used by law enforcement.
• The company has previously faced fines and enforcement actions from regulators in France, Italy, and the Netherlands.
• If found guilty under GDPR, Clearview AI executives could face jail time in the EU.
• Clearview AI recently settled a US class action lawsuit by offering plaintiffs a stake in its future value.

The Digital Dragnet: How Clearview AI Landed in Europe’s Crosshairs

Imagine a vast, invisible net cast across the internet, catching billions of faces in its mesh. That’s the reality behind Clearview AI, a US-based company whose facial recognition engine hoovers up images from social media, news sites, and public web pages. With a few clicks, police and private clients can use Clearview’s tools to identify individuals in seconds - even if those individuals never gave consent.

Now, Europe’s privacy hawks are fighting back. On Tuesday, the Vienna-based digital rights group noyb (None of Your Business), led by renowned privacy activist Max Schrems, filed a criminal complaint in Austria against Clearview AI and its top executives. The group alleges that Clearview’s data harvesting isn’t just a regulatory gray area - it’s a “clearly illegal and intrusive” violation of Europe’s strict General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

From Fines to Felonies: The Stakes Rise for Clearview AI

Clearview AI’s troubles in Europe aren’t new. Since 2022, data protection authorities in France, Italy, and the Netherlands have slapped the company with fines and orders to stop processing European citizens’ data. But enforcement has proven tricky: Clearview operates out of the US and has largely shrugged off European penalties, continuing business as usual. Austrian regulators previously found Clearview in violation of GDPR but stopped short of issuing a fine or halting its activities.

The latest twist is noyb’s use of Article 83(5) of the GDPR, which empowers EU member states to pursue criminal sanctions for severe privacy violations. If the Austrian courts agree, Clearview’s executives could face jail time - a rare and dramatic escalation in the ongoing contest between tech companies and European privacy law.

This isn’t just about one company. The case could set a precedent for how aggressively the EU pursues foreign tech firms that ignore its privacy rules. It’s a high-stakes moment in a wider global debate over the limits of surveillance capitalism - where our faces, once private, have become digital currency.

What’s Next? The Battle for Biometric Rights

As the legal drama unfolds, Clearview AI remains silent, declining to comment on the latest suit. But the company’s recent US settlement - where it dodged a $50 million payout by giving plaintiffs a stake in its future profits - shows it’s feeling the heat on multiple fronts.

The outcome in Austria could redefine the risks for tech companies scraping and selling biometric data in Europe. For millions whose faces have been vacuumed up by Clearview’s algorithms, the case is more than legal wrangling; it’s a test of whether European privacy laws have real teeth - or are just a paper shield.

WIKICROOK

• Facial Recognition: Facial recognition uses biometric analysis of facial features to identify or verify individuals, commonly for security, authentication, and surveillance purposes.
• GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation): GDPR is a strict EU law that gives people control over their personal data and sets rules for organizations handling such information.
• Biometric Data: Biometric data is unique physical or behavioral information - like fingerprints or facial features - used for secure identification and authentication in digital systems.
• Data Scraping: Data scraping is the automated extraction of large amounts of information from websites using bots or software tools, often for analysis or research.
• Surveillance Capitalism: Surveillance capitalism is when companies collect and profit from users’ personal data, often without their full awareness or consent, raising privacy concerns.