The Hague, Netherlands —On Tuesday, the Dutch data protection watchdog fined facial recognition startup Clearview AI 30.5 million euros ($33.7 million) for creating an “illegal database” of billions of pictures of faces.

The Netherlands’ Data Protection Agency, or DPA, has informed Dutch companies that employing Clearview’s services is prohibited.

Clearview AI Fined $33.7 Million By Dutch Data Protection Watchdog Over ‘Illegal Database’ Of Faces

According to the data agency, Clearview, based in New York, “has not objected to this decision and is therefore unable to appeal against the fine.”

However, in an email to The Associated Press, Clearview’s chief legal officer, Jack Mulcaire, stated that the ruling is “unlawful, devoid of due process, and unenforceable.”

The Dutch agency stated that creating the database and failing to warn persons whose photographs appeared were major violations of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR.

“Facial recognition is a highly intrusive technology, that you cannot simply unleash on anyone in the world,” DPA chairman Aleid Wolfsen said in a statement.

“If there is a photo of you on the Internet — and isn’t that true for all of us? — you can end up in Clearview’s database and tracked. This is not a nightmare scene from a horror flick. “It’s not something that can only be done in China,” he remarked.

The DPA stated that if Clearview continues to violate the legislation, it would face noncompliance penalties of up to 5.1 million euros ($5.6 million) in addition to the punishment.

According to Mulcaire’s remark, Clearview is not subject to EU data protection legislation.

“Clearview AI does not have a place of business in the Netherlands or the EU, it does not have any customers in the Netherlands or the EU, and does not undertake any activities that would otherwise mean it is subject to the GDPR,” the spokesperson stated.

Clearview AI Fined $33.7 Million By Dutch Data Protection Watchdog Over ‘Illegal Database’ Of Faces

Clearview settled an Illinois complaint in June, saying that its huge photographic collection of faces violated the subjects’ privacy rights. The deal is estimated to be worth more than $50 million. Clearview did not acknowledge culpability as part of the settlement arrangement.

The Illinois case aggregated lawsuits brought across the country against Clearview, which gathered images from social media and other websites to construct a database that it marketed to businesses, individuals, and government bodies.

SOURCE | AP

Wellington, New Zealand – Kim Dotcom, the creator of the once-famous file-sharing website Megaupload, lost a 12-year battle this week to stop his deportation from New Zealand to the United States on allegations of copyright infringement, money laundering, and racketeering.

New Zealand’s Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith revealed on Friday that he had decided Dotcom should be handed over to the United States for trial, bringing an end to a long-running legal battle. The date of extradition was not established, and Goldsmith stated that Dotcom would be given “a short period of time to consider and take advice” on the matter.

Kim Dotcom loses 12-year fight to halt deportation from New Zealand to face US copyright case

“Don’t worry, I have a plan,” Dotcom said on X this week. He did not clarify, but a member of his legal team, Ira Rothken, posted on the site that a judicial review petition was being draughted, in which a New Zealand judge would be requested to assess Goldsmith’s judgement.

The story goes back to Dotcom’s arrest in 2012 in a dramatic raid on his Auckland residence, along with other company officers. Megaupload earned at least $175 million, according to prosecutors, primarily from those who used the site to illegally download songs, television series, and movies before being shut down by the FBI earlier that year.

Lawyers representing the Finnish-German millionaire and the others accused said that it was the users of the 2005-founded site who opted to pirate material, not its creators. However, prosecutors claimed the men were the architects of a massive criminal business, with the Department of Justice branding it as the greatest criminal copyright case in US history.

The individuals battled the warrant for years, criticising the investigation and arrests, but in 2021, the New Zealand Supreme Court ruled that Dotcom and two other men might be extradited. It was up to the country’s Justice Minister to determine whether to proceed with the extradition.

Three of Goldsmith’s predecessors did not make a decision. Goldsmith was appointed justice minister in November, following the election of New Zealand’s new government.

“I have received extensive advice from the Ministry of Justice on this matter” and carefully evaluated all facts, Goldsmith stated.

“I adore New Zealand.” “I’m not leaving,” German-born Dotcom posted on X Thursday. He did not respond to an Associated Press inquiry for comment.

Kim Dotcom loses 12-year fight to halt deportation from New Zealand to face US copyright case

Two of his former business partners, Mathias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk, pleaded guilty to charges in a New Zealand court in June 2023 and were sentenced to two and a half years in prison. In exchange, the US stopped its efforts to extradite them.

Prosecutors had previously abandoned their extradition request against Finn Batato, the company’s fourth officer, who was arrested in New Zealand. Batato returned to Germany, where he died of cancer in 2022.

Andrus Nomm, an Estonian Megaupload computer programmer, pleaded guilty in 2015 to conspiring to conduct felony copyright infringement and was sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison in the United States.

SOURCE | AP

Japanese stocks tanked on Friday, weighed down by economic fears in the United States and the Bank of Japan’s interest rate hike earlier this week. The Nikkei Stock Average finished at 35,909.70, down 5.8%, its worst daily drop since March 2020, following record highs earlier this month.

The drop in Japanese stocks comes just two days after the Bank of Japan hiked interest rates in an attempt to strengthen the yen’s value amid rising inflation. The Bank of Japan hiked interest rates from 0% to 0.1% to the benchmark of 0.25%.

The move was surprising, given that Japanese officials usually avoid such hardline actions. In March, the bank lifted interest rates for the first time in 17 years, thereby ending its negative interest rate policy.

Japan’s semiconductor companies led the index down, with Tokyo Electron falling 12% after Intel missed earnings expectations and announced cost-cutting measures that will save $10 billion next year.

Friday’s decline was partly fuelled by signals of a slowing US economy. US market indices have plummeted over the last two days due to a slew of negative economic data points, including growing unemployment and decreasing manufacturing and construction.

US unemployment rose above expectations to the highest level in nearly a year, while the ISM manufacturing index fell to an eight-month low.

Band of Japan addresses the Fall of Japanese Stocks

In a press conference Wednesday, BoJ Governor Kazuo Ueda said that if Japan’s economy advances in line with the bank’s projections, interest rates will continue to rise. Analysts at Bank of America predict that the BoJ will raise interest rates again in January.

“Looking ahead, the market’s terminal rate expectations may rise somewhat and bring the timing of rate hikes forward,” the analysts stated in a note released on Thursday. They added, “While acknowledging the possibility of an earlier move, our economist still expects the next rate hike to take place in January.”

Others say that the market will react in response to rate hikes.

“As the likely pace of interest rate hikes becomes clearer from economic indicators in the future, we believe share price discounting will diminish,” JPMorgan analysts wrote in a report on Thursday.

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