PARIS : France's data privacy watchdog CNIL has ordered Clearview AI, a facial recognition company that has collected 10 billion images worldwide, to stop amassing and using data from people based in the country.
The regulator said the software company, which is used as a search engine for faces to help law enforcement and intelligence agencies in their investigations, failed to ask for the prior consent of those whose images it collected online. It added that the New York-based firm failed to give those concerned proper access to their data, notably by limiting access to twice a year, without justification, and by limiting this right to data racked up during the 12 months before any request.EU law provides for citizens to seek the removal of their personal data from a privately-owned database. The CNIL said Clearview had two months to abide by its demands or it could face a sanction.