PimEyes is a facial recognition search website that allows users to identify all images on the internet of a person given a sample image. The website is owned by EMEARobotics, a corporation based in Dubai. The owner and CEO of EMEARobotics and PimEye is Giorgi Gobronidze, who is based in Tbilisi, Georgia.
PimEyes was launched in 2017 by a Polish start-up owned by its creators, Polish software engineers Lucasz (also Lukasz) Kowalczyk and Denis Tatina. [1] [2] In 2017, Giorgi Gobronidze, a Georgian law academic, met the website's creators at a university in Poland. He said he used the website for academic research. [2]
In 2020, the PimEyes brand was purchased by the shell corporation Face Recognition Solutions Ltd, moving the website's headquarter from Poland to Seychelles, a popular tax haven. [2] [1] It was marketed as a cyberstalking tool to use on photos of celebrities. [3] [4]
In December 2021, Gobronidze said he purchased the website from an anonymous owner, using a shell corporation he registered in Dubai that same month. [3] [2] [1]
According to a lawsuit filed in Edwardsville, Illinois alleging violations of the Biometric Information Privacy Act, corporations legally linked to the PimEyes brand include Pimeyes Sp. Z O.O, Transaction Cloud, Inc., Carribex LTD., and Public Mirror SP. Z O.O. [5] Carribex LTD is based in Belize, and is used as the contact for questions about PimEyes' rules. [6]
PimEyes has been the subject of legal inquiries and lawsuits in Europe and the United States. In November 2022, the privacy advocacy group Big Brother Watch filed a complaint with the United Kingdom's data and privacy watchdog. [7]
In December 2022, Germany's privacy watchdog opened proceedings against PimEyes. [8] [9]
In May 2023, five plaintiffs filed a privacy lawsuit against PimEyes in Illinois. [5]
The German news site netzpolitik.org has criticized Pimeyes for its potential for abuse, [4] its moving location and queries by a German data security official, [10] the related service Public Mirror by the initial founders of Pimeyes, [11] its new owner and open questions by the German data security official. [12]
PimEyes has been criticized for the ability for users to search for children and the return of potential explicit material containing children. In October 2023, PimEyes launched age-detection algorithms blocking the search of images of children. [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18]
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PimEyes is a facial recognition search website that allows users to identify all images on the internet of a person given a sample image. The website is owned by EMEARobotics, a corporation based in Dubai. The owner and CEO of EMEARobotics and PimEye is Giorgi Gobronidze, who is based in Tbilisi, Georgia.
PimEyes was launched in 2017 by a Polish start-up owned by its creators, Polish software engineers Lucasz (also Lukasz) Kowalczyk and Denis Tatina. [1] [2] In 2017, Giorgi Gobronidze, a Georgian law academic, met the website's creators at a university in Poland. He said he used the website for academic research. [2]
In 2020, the PimEyes brand was purchased by the shell corporation Face Recognition Solutions Ltd, moving the website's headquarter from Poland to Seychelles, a popular tax haven. [2] [1] It was marketed as a cyberstalking tool to use on photos of celebrities. [3] [4]
In December 2021, Gobronidze said he purchased the website from an anonymous owner, using a shell corporation he registered in Dubai that same month. [3] [2] [1]
According to a lawsuit filed in Edwardsville, Illinois alleging violations of the Biometric Information Privacy Act, corporations legally linked to the PimEyes brand include Pimeyes Sp. Z O.O, Transaction Cloud, Inc., Carribex LTD., and Public Mirror SP. Z O.O. [5] Carribex LTD is based in Belize, and is used as the contact for questions about PimEyes' rules. [6]
PimEyes has been the subject of legal inquiries and lawsuits in Europe and the United States. In November 2022, the privacy advocacy group Big Brother Watch filed a complaint with the United Kingdom's data and privacy watchdog. [7]
In December 2022, Germany's privacy watchdog opened proceedings against PimEyes. [8] [9]
In May 2023, five plaintiffs filed a privacy lawsuit against PimEyes in Illinois. [5]
The German news site netzpolitik.org has criticized Pimeyes for its potential for abuse, [4] its moving location and queries by a German data security official, [10] the related service Public Mirror by the initial founders of Pimeyes, [11] its new owner and open questions by the German data security official. [12]
PimEyes has been criticized for the ability for users to search for children and the return of potential explicit material containing children. In October 2023, PimEyes launched age-detection algorithms blocking the search of images of children. [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18]
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cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (
link)