Swedish police fined for unlawful use of Clearview AI facial recognition
Sweden's data protection authority IMY fined the Swedish Police Authority €250,000 for unlawfully using Clearview AI's facial-recognition app. The police used the app between autumn 2019 and March 2020 without authorisation or a required data protection impact assessment. The IMY ordered the police to ensure Clearview AI deletes the data and to train employees to avoid future breaches.
- Company involved
- Swedish Police Authority
- AI system involved
- Clearview AI
3 source articles · read the reporting →
Macy's sued for using Clearview AI facial recognition without consent
A Chicago woman, Isela Carmean, filed a class-action lawsuit against Macy's, alleging the department store used Clearview AI facial recognition technology to identify customers without their consent, violating Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act. The lawsuit claims Macy's sent customer images from store surveillance to Clearview's database to obtain personal information. Macy's declined to comment on the pending litigation.
- Company involved
- Macy's
- AI system involved
- Clearview AI
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Hong Kong government to impose health code app with red codes, sparking privacy fears
The Hong Kong government announced it will implement a China-style COVID-19 health code app, requiring real-name registration and assigning red, amber, or green codes to residents based on their health status. The system will restrict movement and access to public places for those with red codes. Critics fear the system could be used for political control and monitoring, citing examples from mainland China where health codes have been used to target dissidents. The government says the app is necessary for pandemic response.
- Company involved
- Hong Kong government
- AI system involved
- LeaveHomeSafe app
6 source articles · read the reporting →
Proctortrack data breach exposed student data from online proctoring
Proctortrack, an online proctoring service used by universities, suffered a data breach in September 2020 when its source code was leaked online. An analysis by Consumer Reports found that the code contained hard-coded passwords and exposed the names and email addresses of over 150 students. The company acknowledged the leak but said no harm resulted. Students had been required to use the software, which performed facial recognition and recorded video during exams.
- Company involved
- Proctortrack
- AI system involved
- Proctortrack
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Portland Metro ends Replica partnership over data privacy concerns
Portland Metro, an elected regional government in Oregon, ended its pilot project with movement data company Replica after a disagreement about data sharing. Portland Metro requested raw, disaggregated data, which Replica refused to provide, citing user privacy concerns. The partnership was terminated without payment.
- Company involved
- Portland Metro
- AI system involved
- Replica
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Kohler, BMW, MaxMara secretly collected customers' facial recognition data
During the 2021 CCTV 3·15 Gala, it was revealed that Kohler, BMW, and MaxMara stores had installed facial recognition cameras from vendors such as Wandianzhang and Youluoke. These cameras captured customers' facial data without their knowledge or consent, and the data was used to track customer visits and inform sales strategies. The systems were deployed in thousands of stores across China, collecting over 100 million facial records. The companies did not inform customers or obtain consent, violating Chinese privacy laws.
- Company involved
- Kohler (China) Investment Co., Ltd., ZhengTong Auto (BMW dealerships), MaxMara
- AI system involved
- Facial recognition cameras from Wandianzhang, Youluoke, Yaliang, Ruiwei
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Judge rules police search using Flock was mass surveillance
A judge ruled that a police search using Flock's automated license plate readers constituted a form of mass surveillance. The ruling concerns the deployment of the AI-based camera system by law enforcement, which the court found to be an invasive surveillance practice. No further details of the case were provided in the article.
- AI system involved
- Flock
4 source articles · read the reporting →
Plastic Forte fined for using facial recognition on workers without notice
The Spanish data protection agency AEPD fined Plastic Forte, a plastics manufacturer in Alicante, €20,000 for using facial recognition to record employees' working hours without informing them. A worker requested information about his personal data and discovered the biometric processing. The company initially argued it was only for time tracking but later acknowledged responsibility, resulting in a reduced fine of €12,000. The AEPD deemed facial recognition for time control as highly intrusive and requiring prior impact assessment.
- Company involved
- Plastic Forte
7 source articles · read the reporting →
Stanford takes down Alpaca AI demo over safety and cost concerns
Stanford University took down the web demo of its Alpaca AI language model due to safety and cost concerns. The model, based on Meta's LLaMA, was fine-tuned to follow instructions but could generate misinformation and toxic text. Researchers decided to remove the demo after it became publicly accessible, citing inadequate content filters and rising hosting costs.
- Company involved
- Stanford University
- AI system involved
- Alpaca
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Researchers jailbreak Stable Diffusion and DALL-E 2 to generate disturbing images
Researchers from Johns Hopkins and Duke universities developed a method called SneakyPrompt that uses reinforcement learning to bypass safety filters in text-to-image AI models. The technique allowed them to generate images of nudity and violence from Stable Diffusion and DALL-E 2. OpenAI has since fixed the vulnerability in DALL-E 2, but Stable Diffusion 1.4 remains vulnerable. Stability AI says it is working with the researchers to improve defenses.
- AI system involved
- Stable Diffusion 1.4 and DALL-E 2
5 source articles · read the reporting →
Bavarian police test Palantir data mining with real personal data
The Bavarian State Criminal Police Office (LKA) has been testing Palantir's data mining software, called VeRa, with real personal data for months. The Bavarian data protection commissioner only learned of the test through a media inquiry and has announced a review. The Interior Ministry claims the test is lawful under current law, but critics argue a legal basis is missing.
- Company involved
- Bayerisches Landeskriminalamt
- AI system involved
- VeRa
7 source articles · read the reporting →
N-Tech.lab's FindFace used to identify St Petersburg metro passengers without consent
Egor Tsvetkov photographed passengers on the St Petersburg metro without their permission and used N-Tech.lab's facial recognition service FindFace to match their faces to public Vkontakte profiles. He published the results in an art project called 'Your Face is Big Data', saying he wanted to show how 'digital narcissism' can lead to stalking. Privacy advocates said the project was ethically problematic because the subjects had not consented and their identities were exposed. FindFace had been launched by N-Tech.lab in February 2016.
- Company involved
- N-Tech.lab
- AI system involved
- FindFace
8 source articles · read the reporting →
Hive Box Facial-Recognition Lockers Hacked by Children Using Photos
Fourth-grade students in Jiaxing, China, demonstrated that Hive Box's facial-recognition smart lockers could be opened with a printed photo. The company, which operates a large network of delivery lockers, acknowledged the flaw and suspended the beta feature. The incident raised concerns about the security of facial recognition technology.
- Company involved
- Hive Box
1 source article · read the reporting →
Evolv weapon detection system falsely flags Chromebooks as weapons
Evolv's AI-based weapon detection system has been reported to falsely identify certain Chromebook laptops as weapons, causing false alarms at security checkpoints. The system is used in venues such as schools. The article discusses the flaw and user experiences. No official response from Evolv has been mentioned.
- Company involved
- Evolv
- AI system involved
- Evolv
5 source articles · read the reporting →
Andrea Bartz and others sue Anthropic PBC over copyright
In August 2024, Andrea Bartz, Kirk Wallace Johnson and Charles Graeber filed a lawsuit against Anthropic PBC in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. The complaint alleges copyright infringement under 17 U.S.C. § 501. Anthropic waived service, and the case was assigned to the court.
- Company involved
- Anthropic PBC
8 source articles · read the reporting →
Prosecraft shut down after using authors' books without consent for AI analytics
Prosecraft, a fiction analytics site, used the full text of over 25,000 books without author consent to train its AI algorithms and provide writing statistics. Authors protested on social media, demanding removal of their works. The developer, Benji Smith, subsequently shut down the site and wrote a blog post explaining his actions.
- Company involved
- Prosecraft
- AI system involved
- Prosecraft
10 source articles · read the reporting →
‘Stop spying on us’: Man announces lawsuit against Simpsonville during Flock camera protest - FOX Carolina News
The Flock cameras captured and stored license plate data of vehicles, affecting residents' privacy.
- Company involved
- City of Simpsonville
- AI system involved
- Flock
1 source article · read the reporting →
Jacksons Food Stores sued over facial recognition in Portland
Jacksons Food Stores is accused of violating a Portland, Oregon, city ordinance by using facial recognition technology in its stores after the ban took effect. The lawsuit, filed in December 2022, alleges the system, supplied by Blue Line Technology, wrongly identifies people as criminals and disproportionately affects women and people of colour. Customers were required to look at a camera and be scanned before entering. The retailer has not responded to the allegations.
- Company involved
- Jacksons Food Stores
- AI system involved
- First Line
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Outabox hack exposes biometric data of patrons at bars, clubs and casinos
Hackers claiming to be former employees published a website allowing searches of Outabox's facial recognition database, exposing biometric and other sensitive data of patrons used for age verification at bars, clubs and casinos. The Surveillance Technology Oversight Project warns that the breach demonstrates the danger of facial recognition for age verification. S.T.O.P. has launched a campaign to ban facial recognition in public accommodations.
- Company involved
- Outabox
8 source articles · read the reporting →
Paper Werewolf uses AI-generated decoys and XLLs to target Russian organizations
The threat group Paper Werewolf (aka GOFFEE) is conducting a cyberespionage campaign targeting Russian defense and high-technology organizations. The campaign uses AI-generated decoy documents, such as invitations and official letters, to trick recipients into opening malicious Excel XLL add-ins that deliver a backdoor called EchoGather. The backdoor collects system information and communicates with a command-and-control server. The campaign is ongoing and was first detected in late October 2025.
- Company involved
- Paper Werewolf
- AI system involved
- EchoGather
2 source articles · read the reporting →
42,900 OpenClaw AI agents exposed, 15,200 vulnerable to RCE
SecurityScorecard's STRIKE team revealed on February 9, 2026, that approximately 42,900 OpenClaw agentic AI instances are exposed on the internet due to insecure default configurations. Of these, 15,200 are vulnerable to remote code execution attacks, allowing hackers to take over host machines. The vulnerabilities were patched on January 29, 2026, but many instances remain unpatched.
- AI system involved
- OpenClaw
5 source articles · read the reporting →
Stable Diffusion Accused of Stealing Artists' Styles Without Consent
Artists including Greg Rutkowski and Karla Ortiz allege that Stability AI's image generator Stable Diffusion was trained on their work without permission, enabling users to create images mimicking their distinctive styles. The artists express concern that this threatens their livelihoods and identities, as their names become prompts for generating similar art. A tool is being developed to help protect artists from such unauthorised use, but the situation remains unresolved.
- Company involved
- Stability AI
- AI system involved
- Stable Diffusion
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Palantir secretly tested predictive policing in New Orleans
Beginning in 2012, Palantir Technologies secretly partnered with the New Orleans Police Department to deploy a predictive policing system. The programme analysed gang affiliations, social media and criminal histories to forecast individuals’ likelihood of committing or becoming victims of violence, operating without public knowledge or city council oversight. Researchers and law enforcement officials raised concerns about systemic bias and civil liberties. As of 2018, the city and Palantir had not disclosed the programme’s status.
- Company involved
- New Orleans Police Department
1 source article · read the reporting →
Pasco Sheriff's Office used algorithm to target potential future criminals and schoolchildren
The Pasco Sheriff's Office operates an intelligence-led policing programme that uses an algorithm to identify people who might break the law based on criminal histories and social networks. Deputies are sent to the homes of those flagged, even without evidence of a crime, and former deputies allege they were ordered to make targets' lives miserable. The agency also keeps a list of more than 400 schoolchildren predicted to 'fall into a life of crime', built from data such as grades and child welfare records, without informing the children or their parents. Civil liberties groups are considering lawsuits and public advocacy campaigns, and experts have called the programmes 'morally repugnant'.
- Company involved
- Pasco Sheriff's Office
10 source articles · read the reporting →
