No action taken against PimEyes: noyb lawsuit against Hamburg DPA
Privacy advocacy group noyb has sued Hamburg's data protection authority for failing to act against PimEyes, a facial recognition search engine that scrapes biometric data from the internet to build a searchable database of people's faces. The Hamburg DPA reportedly acknowledges PimEyes operates illegally but says the company's apparent Dubai base puts enforcement out of reach.
Why this matters: PimEyes lets anyone upload a photo of a stranger and find other images of that person across the web. That is a serious tool for stalking, harassment, or surveillance — available to anyone with a browser. The Hamburg DPA admits this is illegal and does nothing. That is the accountability gap noyb is forcing into court. A regulator that sees a clear violation and shrugs because the company incorporated somewhere inconvenient is not protecting anyone. Where a company parks its legal address should not be a reliable shield against laws designed to protect real people.
Who should care: Lawyers · Privacy officers · Compliance · AI governance · Cybersecurity · General readers · Policy
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