{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-11-07T02:11:02.988Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"work","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"","evidence":"","year":"2019","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":2,"coverage":{"cases":2,"countries":2,"languages":1,"unknownLocation":0,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":0,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":1,"minors":0,"coreRelations":0,"contextualRelations":2,"mixedRelations":0,"unknownRelations":0,"relationPending":0,"relationUnknown":0},"countingNote":"Distinct public cases in this selection. People counts apply within individual cases only; cross-case person overlap has not been resolved. No population incidence estimate.","affectedCountNote":"Interpret person counts with affectedCountStatus and the reported effects. Unquantified zeros are placeholders, not a measured zero.","source":"AI incidents","publisher":"NOPE","url":"https://nope.net/incidents","license":"CC BY 4.0"},"incidents":[{"id":"2019-uk-passport-online-photo-checker-told-black-applicants-their-closed-mouths-looked-open","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"The facial detection system informs people when it thinks the photo uploaded may not meet strict requirements, which include a plain expression and the mouth to be kept closed.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"The passport application website uses an automated check to detect poor quality photos which do not meet Home Office rules. These include having a neutral expression, a closed mouth and looking straight at the camera.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The UK government's online passport application runs an automated face-detection check that tells applicants when it thinks an uploaded photo does not meet the rules, which include a neutral expression and a closed mouth.","causal_attribution":"Function of the system as described independently by PA and the BBC."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"A young black man hoping to renew his passport online was stunned when the automated photo checker mistook his lips for an open mouth.; My mouth is closed, I just have big lips.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"A young Black man renewing his passport online says the automated checker mistook his lips for an open mouth, and that to submit the photo anyway he had to write in the comment box that his mouth was closed and he just had big lips.","causal_attribution":"The applicant's account to PA; the checker's message is attributed to him."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"She became frustrated after the system told her it looked like her eyes are closed and that it could not find the outline of her head.; proceeded with one of the images and received her passport without any further problems.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"She told the BBC she had attempted to upload 10 different photographs over the course of a week, and each one had been rated as \"poor\" quality by the site.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"A Black educational technologist says the checker told her that her eyes looked closed and that it could not find the outline of her head, and that over a week she uploaded 10 photographs, each rated poor quality, before proceeding with one and receiving her passport.","causal_attribution":"Her own account, given to PA and to the BBC; two interviews with one witness are one origin."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"When posting about the issue on Twitter at the time, the Passport Office tweeted back to her, saying it was sorry the photo upload service hadn’t “worked as it should","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"PA reported that when the technologist posted about the problem on Twitter, the Passport Office replied that it was sorry the photo upload service had not worked as it should.","causal_attribution":"PA's report of the Passport Office's reply; the tweet itself was not inspected."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"One black student said she was wrongly told her mouth looked open each time she uploaded five different photos to the government website.; which involved writing a note to say her mouth was indeed closed.; It should be the norm for these systems to work well for everyone, she added.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"A Black student says the checker wrongly told her that her mouth looked open on each of five photos she uploaded, and that she got one approved after challenging the verdict by writing a note to say her mouth was closed; she said such systems should work well for everyone.","causal_attribution":"The student's account to the BBC."},{"id":"c6","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"Dark-skinned women are told their photos are poor quality 22% of the time, while the figure for light-skinned women is 14%; Photos of women with the darkest skin were four times more likely to be graded poor quality, than women with the lightest skin.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The BBC fed 1,130 passport-style photos of politicians into the checker and reported that photos of dark-skinned women were graded poor quality 22% of the time against 14% for light-skinned women, and that photos of women with the darkest skin were four times more likely to be graded poor quality than those of women with the lightest skin.","causal_attribution":"The BBC's own test, which it says the Alan Turing Institute reproduced; reported as the BBC's finding."},{"id":"c7","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"Documents released as part of a freedom of information request in 2019 had previously revealed the Home Office was aware of this problem, but decided \"overall performance\" was good enough to launch the online checker.; The automated checker was supplied to the government by an external provider which it declined to name.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The BBC reported that documents released under a 2019 freedom of information request showed the Home Office was aware of the problem but decided overall performance was good enough to launch the checker, which an external provider it declined to name supplied.","causal_attribution":"The BBC's account of the FOI documents, which were not inspected."},{"id":"c8","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"In the vast majority of cases where a photo does not pass our automated check, customers may override the outcome and submit the photo as part of their application.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"Over nine million people have used this service and our systems are improving.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The Home Office told PA in 2019 that in the vast majority of cases applicants whose photo fails the automated check may override it and submit the photo, and told the BBC in 2020 that over nine million people had used the service and its systems were improving.","causal_attribution":"The Home Office's statement, kept as its response."}],"effects":[{"label":"applicants say the checker wrongly said their mouths were open or eyes closed, forcing retries or written overrides","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.irishnews.com/magazine/technology/2019/09/19/news/passport-photo-checker-falsely-flags-black-man-s-lips-as-open-mouth-1716760/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-29; no translation.","independence_group":"pa-2019-09-19"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-54349538","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-29; no translation.","independence_group":"bbc-2020-10-08"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["institutional_use"],"contexts":["public_services"],"unknowns":["The date of each applicant's attempts: the technologist posted in April 2019 according to PA, the man applied before 19 September 2019, and the student before 8 October 2020.","The supplier and design of the face-detection check; the Home Office declined to name the provider.","Whether the Home Office later changed or replaced the checker."],"geography":{"basis":"The check is part of the UK government's online passport application. PA and the BBC place the three applicants in England.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["GB"],"affected_person_countries":["GB"]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as a government service's automated face-detection check making wrong statements about three described applicants' faces: they say it called closed mouths open and eyes closed and made them retry or override it. Their accounts are attributed; the BBC's group-level test and the Home Office's response are recorded separately.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-29"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"PA and the BBC describe the passport website's photo check as an automated face-detection system that tells applicants when it thinks a photo breaks the rules. Three applicants say its verdicts about their own faces were wrong: it said a man's closed mouth was open, said a woman's eyes were closed and could not find the outline of her head, and said a student's mouth looked open on five photos. Those wrong verdicts are what made them retry or write overrides. The Home Office did not deny the failures; the BBC test and the 2019 FOI documents report a wider skin-tone pattern but do not establish the cause in each applicant's case.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["made_claim_about"]},"name":"UK passport photo checker told Black applicants their closed mouths looked open, they say; a BBC test found darker-skinned women flagged more often","summary":"The UK government's online passport application uses an automated face-detection check that tells applicants when it thinks an uploaded photo breaks the rules, which include a neutral expression and a closed mouth. In September 2019 PA reported that a young Black man renewing his passport online said the checker mistook his lips for an open mouth, and that to submit the photo anyway he had to write in a comment box that his mouth was closed and he just had big lips. PA also reported that a Black educational technologist said the system told her that her eyes looked closed and that it could not find the outline of her head; she told the BBC she uploaded 10 photographs over a week and each was rated poor, and PA reported that the Passport Office tweeted that it was sorry the service had not worked as it should. In October 2020 a BBC investigation reported that a Black student said she was wrongly told her mouth looked open on each of five photos and got one accepted only by writing a note challenging the verdict. The BBC fed 1,130 passport-style photos of politicians into the checker and found that photos of dark-skinned women were graded poor quality 22% of the time against 14% for light-skinned women; it reported that documents released under a 2019 freedom of information request showed the Home Office knew of the problem but judged overall performance good enough to launch. The Home Office said applicants can override the check, that the checker is a customer aid, and that its systems are improving.","incidentDate":"2019-04-01","incidentKind":"bounded_series","incidentDatePrecision":"month","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2019-09-19","aiSystem":"Automated face-detection photo check on the UK government's online passport application, supplied to the Home Office by an external provider it declined to name","aiProduct":"HM Passport Office photo checker","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["psychological_distress"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"The applicants say the checker wrongly told them their mouths looked open or their eyes closed, so they had to retry with new photos or write explanations to override it. The man describes annoyance, the technologist frustration over a week of attempts, and the student says she should not have had to override a system that was not built for her. The technologist received her passport and the student got a photo approved; no refused passport is reported.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":3,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"documented_minimum","affectedCountEvidence":"Three applicants each describe the checker misreading their own photos (PA: a man and a technologist; BBC: a student and the same technologist, counted once). PA says the man's case was not isolated, and the BBC test shows higher failure rates for darker-skinned people, but neither gives a count of other applicants harmed, so three is a minimum.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"GB","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"media_coverage","outcomeStatus":"unknown","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.irishnews.com/magazine/technology/2019/09/19/news/passport-photo-checker-falsely-flags-black-man-s-lips-as-open-mouth-1716760/","primarySourceLabel":"PA via The Irish News, passport photo checker falsely flags black man's lips as open mouth, 19 September 2019","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-29T03:13:05.403403+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-29T03:13:05.403403+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["passport","photo-checker","face-detection","home-office","public-services","gov-uk"]},{"id":"2019-flanders-google-assistant-recordings-leaked-by-contract-reviewer-some-captured-without-wake-word","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'VRT NWS was able to listen to more than a thousand excerpts recorded via Google Assistant'; 'In the aftermath of the Amazon case, we were able to talk to someone who works for a Google subcontractor'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'we partner with language experts around the world who understand the nuances and accents of a specific language'; 'one of these language reviewers has violated our data security policies by leaking confidential Dutch audio data'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"Excerpts of audio recorded by Google Home speakers and the Google Assistant app were transcribed by contract language reviewers, and more than a thousand Dutch-language excerpts reached VRT NWS from someone working for a Google subcontractor.","causal_attribution":"Reported by VRT from its own access to the excerpts; Google confirms that a language reviewer leaked Dutch audio data."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'153 of which were conversations that should never have been recorded and during which the command ‘Okay Google’ was clearly not given.'; 'as soon as someone in the vicinity utters a word that sounds a bit like ’Okay Google’, Google Home starts to record.'; 'Most of these recordings were made consciously, but Google also listens to conversations that should never have been recorded'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"VRT says 153 of the excerpts were conversations in which the command \"Okay Google\" was clearly not given, recorded when the speaker reacted to words that sound like it; it says most of the recordings it heard were made consciously.","causal_attribution":"VRT's count from its own listening; Google does not give a count for the leaked set."},{"id":"c3","status":"documented","evidence":[{"locator":"'Rarely, devices that have the Google Assistant built in may experience what we call a “false accept.”'; 'that our software interpreted to be the hotword'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"Google says devices with the Assistant built in may rarely have a \"false accept\", when its software interprets background noise or words as the hotword.","causal_attribution":"The company's own published description of how its hotword detection can misfire."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'In these recordings we could clearly hear addresses and other sensitive information. This made it easy for us to find the people involved and confront them with the audio recordings.'; 'We let ordinary Flemish people hear some of their own recordings.'; 'immediately recognise the voice of their son and their grandchild'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"VRT says it could hear addresses and other sensitive information in the recordings, found the people involved, and played them their recordings; one man recognised his own voice and a couple recognised the voices of their son and grandchild.","causal_attribution":"VRT's own account of identifying people from the leaked recordings."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'bedroom conversations, conversations between parents and their children, but also blazing rows and professional phone calls containing lots of private information'; 'he heard a woman who was in definite distress'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"VRT describes unintended recordings of bedroom conversations, conversations between parents and children, rows and professional calls, and a reviewer who described a recording of a woman in definite distress.","causal_attribution":"VRT's description of the content, including a reviewer's account relayed by VRT."},{"id":"c6","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'These are not linked to any personal or identifiable information'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'Audio snippets are not associated with user accounts as part of the review process, and reviewers are directed not to transcribe background conversations or other noises'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"Google said the excerpts reviewed were not linked to personal or identifiable information and that reviewers are directed not to transcribe background conversations.","causal_attribution":"Google's position, recorded as context to VRT's identification of people."},{"id":"c7","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'taking the decision to manually suspend audio reviews of Google Assistant across the whole of Europe, and doing so on July 10, after learning of the data leak'; 'Google Ireland filed an Article 33 breach notification'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"According to TechCrunch, Google suspended manual reviews of Assistant audio across Europe on 10 July 2019 after learning of the leak, and Google Ireland filed a breach notification with the Irish Data Protection Commission.","causal_attribution":"Google's and the Irish regulator's statements as relayed by TechCrunch."},{"id":"c8","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'begin an “urgency procedure” under Article 66'; 'have committed to the continued suspension of processing for a period of at least three months starting today (1 August)'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"According to TechCrunch, the Hamburg data protection authority began an urgency procedure under Article 66 of the GDPR against the human reviews, and the Irish regulator said Google had committed to continue the suspension for at least three months from 1 August 2019.","causal_attribution":"Regulators' statements as relayed by TechCrunch; the Hamburg statement itself was not read."}],"effects":[{"label":"Private household recordings held by the Assistant service, some made without the wake phrase, leaked to journalists who identified people in them","claim_id":"c4","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/en/2019/07/10/google-employees-are-eavesdropping-even-in-flemish-living-rooms/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-28 (vrt.be, HTTP 200, the broadcaster's English-language version of its report). The embedded video report was not watched. No translation was needed; the research agent (an AI) read the text directly.","independence_group":"vrt-nws-google-assistant-leak"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://blog.google/products/assistant/more-information-about-our-processes-safeguard-speech-data/","kind":"company_statement","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-28 (blog.google, HTTP 200 after redirect to the current blog path). The page metadata gives a publication date of 11 July 2019. No translation was needed.","independence_group":"google-statement-speech-data"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://techcrunch.com/2019/08/02/google-ordered-to-halt-human-review-of-voice-ai-recordings-over-privacy-risks/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-28 (techcrunch.com, HTTP 200). It relays the Hamburg authority's German statement, an Irish Data Protection Commission statement and Google statements; the Hamburg statement itself was not read (its old URL returned 404). Its account of the leak relays VRT. No translation was needed.","independence_group":"techcrunch-hamburg-order"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["unknown"],"contexts":["privacy","everyday_life"],"unknowns":["When the leaked recordings were made.","Whether the identified people's recordings were among those made without the wake phrase.","Whether the people identified were the owners or users of the devices.","How many people were heard in the leaked excerpts.","What the Hamburg authority finally decided and how Google later changed its review practices (not inspected)."],"geography":{"basis":"VRT says it played recordings to ordinary Flemish people it identified from the excerpts, which places the identified people and the disclosure to them in Belgium. The reviewers worked on Dutch recordings for Flanders and the Netherlands; no Dutch person is described.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["BE"],"affected_person_countries":["BE"]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as an actual disclosure of private information captured by an AI voice assistant: VRT NWS heard more than a thousand Assistant recordings leaked by a contract reviewer, 153 made without the wake phrase, and identified people from them; Google confirmed the leak and described false accepts of its hotword detection. The harm counted is the disclosure of conversations captured without the wake phrase; VRT says most recordings were made consciously, so the people it identified are not counted. Regulatory responses are attributed to TechCrunch's report of the regulators' statements.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-28"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The Google Assistant recorded audio from Google Home speakers and the Assistant app into Google's speech service; VRT says 153 of the leaked excerpts were conversations in which \"Okay Google\" was not said, and Google states that its software sometimes interprets background noise or words as the hotword (a false accept). Excerpts held by the Assistant service were given to contract language reviewers, one of whom, Google confirms, leaked Dutch audio; VRT used addresses and other details in the recordings to identify people, who recognised their own and relatives' voices. VRT says most of the recordings it heard were made consciously; the AI system's own contribution is the capture of conversations without the wake phrase, and VRT does not say whether the people it identified were heard in those recordings.","status":"supported"},"person_relations":["received_personal_information"]},"name":"Belgian broadcaster says a Google contract reviewer leaked over 1,000 Assistant recordings, some made without the wake phrase, and it identified people in them","summary":"On 10 July 2019 the Belgian public broadcaster VRT NWS reported that it had listened to more than a thousand audio excerpts recorded by Google Home smart speakers and the Google Assistant phone app, passed to it by someone working for a Google subcontractor that transcribes Dutch-language recordings to improve Google's speech recognition. VRT said 153 of the excerpts were conversations in which \"Okay Google\" was clearly not said, and that it could hear addresses and other sensitive information, which let it find and visit people in Flanders who recognised their own or relatives' voices. Google said one of its language reviewers had leaked confidential Dutch audio data, and explained that its devices rarely have \"false accepts\", when background noise or words are interpreted as the hotword. Google suspended human review of Assistant audio in Europe, and the Hamburg data protection authority began an urgency procedure under Article 66 of the GDPR to stop the reviews for three months, according to TechCrunch.","incidentDate":"2019-01-01","incidentKind":"bounded_series","incidentDatePrecision":"year","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2019-07-10","aiSystem":"Google Assistant voice assistant on Google Home smart speakers and the Google Assistant smartphone app, with hotword detection and speech recognition; excerpts of its recordings were transcribed by contract language reviewers","aiProduct":"Google Assistant","aiCompany":"Google","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["other_material_harm"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"VRT NWS says it heard more than a thousand leaked Google Assistant recordings, 153 made without \"Okay Google\", and identified people in them; Google confirmed a reviewer leaked Dutch audio (loss of privacy).","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"unquantified","affectedCountEvidence":"VRT NWS says 153 of the more than a thousand excerpts it heard were conversations recorded without \"Okay Google\" being said; those are the recordings the AI system captured without the speakers' knowledge, and the number of people heard in them is not reported, so the count is unquantified. VRT says most of the recordings were made consciously, and it does not say whether the people it identified (a man who recognised his own voice; a couple who recognised their son and grandchild) were heard in recordings made without the wake phrase, so they are not counted.","victimAgeRange":"unknown","jurisdiction":"unknown","platformType":"assistant","outcomeType":"regulatory_action","outcomeStatus":"unknown","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/en/2019/07/10/google-employees-are-eavesdropping-even-in-flemish-living-rooms/","primarySourceLabel":"VRT NWS, 10 July 2019: Google employees are eavesdropping, even in your living room, VRT NWS has discovered","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-28T03:09:05.610569+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-28T03:09:05.610569+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["voice-assistant","smart-speaker","false-activation","human-review","recording-leak","privacy","gdpr","regulator-action"]}]}