A company which enables its clients to search a database of billions of images scraped from the internet for matches to a particular face has won an appeal against the UK's privacy watchdog.
Clearview AI offers its clients a system that works like a search engine for faces - users upload a photo and it finds matches in a database of billions of images it has collected.In March, Clearview's founder Hoan Ton-That told the BBC it had run nearly a million searches for US police, helping them to solve a range of crimes, including murders.Critics argue that law enforcement's use of Clearview's technology puts everyone into a "perpetual police line-up".
In simple terms, Clearview succeeded in appealing against the ICO's fine and enforcement action because it was used solely by law enforcement bodies outside the UK. In response to the judgement, the watchdog said that it would carefully consider next steps but added: "It is important to note that this judgement does not remove the ICO's ability to act against companies based internationally who process data of people in the UK, particularly businesses scraping data of people in the UK, and instead covers a specific exemption around foreign law enforcement.