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Controversial facial recognition company Clearview AI He was fined more than $10 million by the UK’s data protection watchdog for collecting the faces of UK citizens from the web and social media. The firm has also been ordered to delete all data it holds about UK citizens.

The move by the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is the latest in a series of high-profile fines against the company as data protection authorities worldwide place tougher restrictions on its practices.

Clearview AI boasts one of the world’s largest databases of 20 billion human facial images that it scrapes from the internet without their consent from publicly available sources like social media. customers like police departments Pay for access to the database to search for matches.

However, data protection authorities in the Western world found it to be a clear breach of privacy. Now, they’re starting to work together to rectify the situation, and the fines may be just the beginning. Read the full story.

—Melisa Heikkila

must read

I scoured the internet for today’s most entertaining/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 Increasing production of smallpox vaccine
Dozens of countries have requested information on vaccine materials that protect against monkeypox. (WSJ $)
+ There are over 100 million doses stocked in the USA. (NYT $)
+ Conspiracy theories circulating in China that hold the USA responsible for the epidemic. (Bloomberg $)
+ There is no evidence to suggest that the monkeypox virus is becoming more contagious. (NYT $)

2 Data’s wild west era is coming to an end
While countries are divided on how much should be shared, everyone agrees on its value. (NYT $)
+ GDPR did not prevent data brokers from hoarding our information. (wired $)

3 Mark Zuckerberg’s plan to appear politically neutral backfired
His $419 million donation fueled the false theory of 2020 election fraud. (Protocol)
+ He is also being sued over the Cambridge Analytica data scandal.. (WP $)
+ Meta will give researchers more information about political ad targeting. (NYT $)
+ Facebooktroll farms reach 140 million Americans a month before the election. (MIT Technology Review)

4 The swamp struggles against rising water levels
While some plants will suffer, others will thrive – at least for now. (wired $)
+ How rising groundwater caused by climate change could devastate coastal communities. (MIT Technology Review)

5 Maybe we’re spreading disinformation about disinformation
This expression has become so general that we lose sight of what it actually means. (slate $)
+ How Facebook and Google are funding global misinformation. (MIT Technology Review)

6 Facebook’s customer service is so bad
Leaving disgruntled users with no way to seek help for their problems. (WSJ $)

7 Humans will not go extinct anytime soon
But our ability to adapt and learn from mistakes is crucial to our future survival. (CNET)

8 Mexico City’s gig economy helps healthcare workers treat patients
Allowing them to test and vaccinate at home. (rest of the world)

9 Time to leave email 📧
“They’ll get back to me if it matters” is a good philosophy to adopt. (WSJ $)

10 Google’s text-to-image AI is pretty impressive
But not as advanced as OpenAI. (TechCrunch)
+ This riding astronaut marks a milestone in AI’s journey to make sense of the world.. (MIT Technology Review)

Word of the Day

“You can totally make a fortune in crypto. I’m not saying you can never do it, but you bet you’ll be a better shark than all the sharks that make up the shark pond.”