ICO seeks permission to appeal against Clearview AI tribunal ruling
The UK’s data protection watchdog is seeking permission to appeal against the decision of a tribunal to overturn a data privacy fine handed out to facial recognition firm Clearview AI. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said it believes the tribunal incorrectly interpreted the law when overturning a £7.5 million fine handed out to Clearview by the ICO last year. At the time, the ICO said Clearview had collected billions of images of people’s faces and data – without informing people or gaining their consent – from publicly available information on the internet, including social media platforms, for use in facial recognition services by law enforcement agencies outside of the UK. But last month, a tribunal overturned the ICO’s decision after a Clearview appeal ruling that the ICO did not have the jurisdiction to issue its fine and enforcement notice because Clearview’s system was only used by law enforcement agencies based outside the UK. Whilst my office supports businesses that innovate with AI solutions, we will always take the appropriate action to protect UK people when we believe their privacy rights are not being respected John Edwards, Information Commissioner Now the ICO says it wishes to seek permission to appeal on the grounds that it believes that Clearview itself was not processing data for foreign law enforcement purposes and should not be shielded from the scope of UK law on that basis. “I fully respect the role of the tribunal to provide scrutiny of my decisions – but as the defender of the public’s privacy, I need to challenge this judgment to clarify whether commercial enterprises profiting from processing digital images of UK people, are entitled to claim they are engaged in ‘law enforcement’,” Information Commissioner John Edwards said. “It is my job to protect the data rights of the people of the United Kingdom and it is my view that there are too many who are being affected by the sheer scale and intrusiveness of Clearview’s mass scraping of personal information. “This is an important issue within the AI sphere and whilst my office supports businesses that innovate with AI solutions, we will always take the appropriate action to protect UK people when we believe their privacy rights are not being respected.” The ICO said it would now await the tribunal’s decision on the issue. Clearview AI has been contacted for comment.
2023-11-17 19:50
Amazon says it will soon sell cars on its website
Amazon has announced plans to start selling cars on its website, marking a major new product category for the online retail giant that made its start selling books. The e-commerce firm said on Thursday that it will launch vehicle sales in the US in the second half of 2024, allowing local car dealers to sell directly to customers on its site. In a joint announcement with South Korean car manufacturer Hyundai, the two companies said Amazon will begin by offering Hyundai vehicles. In turn, Hyundai will name Amazon’s cloud computing unit AWS as its preferred cloud provider and integrate its next-generation vehicles with Alexa, Amazon’s popular voice assistant. The idea, according to Amazon, is to have customers purchase a new car online and pick it up – or have it delivered – from their local dealer. Amazon did not say how many dealers would be participating in the program or if customers across the US would be able to make purchases. An Amazon spokesperson said the company would release more details as it builds the program, which is expected to begin with Hyundai franchised dealers and launch during the later part of next year. Currently, Amazon sells vehicle equipment online and offers a showroom for consumers who want to research different types of cars they may want to buy. But consumers can not directly purchase a vehicle on its platform. The announcement shows Amazon’s ambitions to grow its footprint through dealers in an industry that has strong lobbying forces and heavy state regulations. Nearly all states require manufacturers to sell their vehicles through dealerships to ensure the automakers don’t undercut their own network of franchised dealers. Despite its vision, Amazon might face challenges convincing consumers who might not feel comfortable making such a large purchase on its platform. In a statement, an Amazon spokesperson said customers are increasingly purchasing vehicles online and the company will provide a “range of solutions that add transparency” to the car buying process to help them make an informed decision. The latest move comes as Amazon faces another class action lawsuit over refunds on returned products, with plaintiffs accusing the retailer of failing to issue refunds for returned products. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Amazon’s hometown of Seattle this week. Additional reporting from agencies. Read More ‘We are broken’: Armenia looks to technology to rebuild Ring to preview security features with abuse charity to boost safety SpaceX is launching the world’s biggest rocket – follow live Battery breakthrough brings ‘unprecedented performance’ to next-gen cells
2023-11-17 18:46
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