Canadian Watchdog Rules Clearview AI Facial Recognition Illegal
Canadian privacy authorities declare that Clearview AI violates privacy laws by scraping citizens' faces without consent. The watchdog demands the company halt collection and delete all existing Canadian data.
Canadian privacy authorities rule that Clearview AI violates the law by scraping facial images of Canadian citizens without their knowledge or consent. The investigation finds that the New York-based startup collects highly sensitive biometric data for inappropriate purposes that cannot be justified after the fact. Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien condemns the practice as illegal mass surveillance that forces ordinary people into a perpetual police lineup.
Clearview AI strongly pushes back against the ruling by arguing that Canadian privacy laws do not apply to the company due to a lack of substantial connection to the country. The startup also claims that collecting publicly available images from the open internet is explicitly permitted under Canadian privacy legislation. These legal arguments mirror the defense the company uses as it fights a massive class-action lawsuit in the United States under Illinois' biometric protection laws.
The Canadian privacy watchdog flatly rejects Clearview's legal justifications and issues binding recommendations that include immediately stopping the collection of Canadian faces and deleting all previously gathered images. Although Clearview states it stopped offering its technology to Canadian clients last summer, authorities warn they will pursue further actions if the startup fails to comply with the deletion demands.