The privacy authorities of British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec are also requiring the U.S. firm to delete images and biometric data collected without permission from individuals.The binding orders made public Tuesday follow a joint investigation by the three provincial authorities with the office of federal privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien.
The orders from the provincial authorities Tuesday also require Clearview AI to stop offering its facial recognition services in the three provinces. Clearview has not been providing services to clients in Canada since the summer of 2020, but has hinted it could return. The company told B.C. privacy commissioner Michael McEvoy in May it was "simply not possible" to identify whether individuals in photos were in Canada at the time the image was taken or whether they were Canadian citizens or residents.
Given that Clearview is not operating in Canada now, the company believes the orders are beyond the powers of the provincial privacy commissioners, as well as unnecessary, Mitchell said Tuesday. The company still holds, and uses, possibly millions of photos of people from Canada, which they continue to sell to policing bodies around the world, the civil liberties association said.
EndTo10YearsInLimbo