France

France Fines Clearview AI €20 Million for GDPR Violations and Unlawful Biometric Surveillance

| Importance: 8/10

France’s data protection authority (CNIL) imposed a €20 million fine on Clearview AI - the maximum penalty allowed under GDPR Article 83 - for unlawful processing of biometric data through its facial recognition technology. The CNIL found that Clearview had collected over 20 billion images …

CNIL Clearview AI European Data Protection Board France surveillance-state privacy-violations regulatory-action international-law gdpr
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Neutrality Act Revised to Allow Arms Sales on Cash-and-Carry Basis, Enabling Corporate War Profits

| Importance: 8/10

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Neutrality Act of 1939 on November 4, repealing the arms embargo provisions of earlier Neutrality Acts and allowing arms sales to belligerent nations on a “cash-and-carry” basis, effectively ending the policy designed to prevent American business …

Franklin D. Roosevelt U.S. Congress arms manufacturers isolationists Britain +1 more war-profiteering neutrality-acts world-war-ii corporate-profits military-industrial-complex
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Louisiana Purchase Demonstrates Jefferson Constitutional Hypocrisy and Executive Power Expansion

| Importance: 7/10

The U.S. Senate approves the Louisiana Purchase treaty by a vote of 24-7, with President Thomas Jefferson abandoning his strict constructionist constitutional principles to complete the acquisition of French territory despite acknowledging the Constitution grants no explicit power to purchase …

President Thomas Jefferson Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin U.S. Senate Napoleon Bonaparte France constitutional-conflict executive-power strict-construction political-hypocrisy territorial-expansion
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