What Is ClearView AI and Why Should You Care About It?
Clearview AI has secretly scraped billions of faceprints from people’s online photos and made, what the company claims, the world’s largest face recognition database. If you care about your privacy, be wary of posting your photos online and remove yourself from the Clearview AI database.
So what is Clearview AI? Why should you care? And how can you get your photos deleted from the Clearview AI database?
What Is Clearview AI?
Clearview AI is an American company offering facial recognition technology to its clients. You upload a picture of a person, and Clearview AI will show you public photos of that person. You will also see links where those public photos appeared.
According to theClearview AI website, the company provides the following solutions:
Clearview AI clients include, as mentioned in aBuzzFeed report, The Justice Department, Walmart, FBI, Homeland Security, and more.
The BBCreported that the founder of Clearview AI said the company has run one million searches for the US police department. The company claims to have more than 30 billion images in its database. Considering the world’s current population (around 8 billion), it could have about four images of each person in the world.
But the biggest concern is that the images resting in Clearview’s database have been scooped up from social media, YouTube, and various online platforms secretly without the consent of users.
So if you have ever posted your photo on any social media platform or somebody has posted a photo which shows your face, there is a high chance that Clearview AI has your faceprint in its database.
Controversies Around Clearview AI
In the United States, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other groups filed a lawsuit against Clearview AI in 2020 over an alleged violation of Illinois digital privacy law (as perThe New York Times). Under the settlement of the lawsuit, Clearview AI agreed to limit sales of its facial recognition software to law enforcement agencies only.
According toa BBC report, the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) found that the company breached the UK data protection laws and ordered the company to delete and stop using the personal data of UK citizens. The UK’s privacy watchdog fined the company more than £7.5 million.
Italy’s data protection agency instructed Clearview AI to delete facial biometrics of Italian citizens and banned it for further processing of faceprints of the citizens, as reported byTechCrunch. The data protection agency also fined Clearview €20 million for the breaches of EU law.
Bleeping Computerfurther noted that the French authorities fined Clearview AI €20 million for illegally collecting and processing faceprints of French citizens. The Greek privacy authority also fined Clearview AI €20 million for violating parts of Europe’sGeneral Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), as perThe Record.
The Australia’s information commissioner and privacy commissioner directed Clearview AI to stop collecting facial data of Australian citizens and delete the existing data after finding that Clearview AI had breached the Australian Privacy Act, reportedTechCrunch.
In a similar incident, the Canadian authorities called Clearview AI’s activities illegal, as perThe New York Times, stating that the company needed its citizens' consent to use their biometric information.
Due to the way Clearview AI collects faceprints and uses them to offer its facial recognition software, data protection authorities worldwide are coming down heavily on it. But regulators are still struggling to stop the company from scraping the internet for people’s photos.
Why You Should Be Worried About Clearview AI
If all the reports of breaches to privacy regulations aren’t enough to warrant your concern, you still need to be wary of the controversial facial recognition model used by Clearview AI.
Invasion of Privacy
There are importantreasons privacy should be considered a fundamental right. The facial recognition technology used by Clearview AI enables users to identify people without their knowledge or consent. This is an invasion of privacy as people may not be aware that their online photos are being scraped and fed to the global database of faceprints.
Surveillance
Clearview AI can be a big threat to free speech and civil liberties. Enforcement agencies and other entities in oppressive regimes can use it to identify activists and members of civil societies without their knowledge.
Misidentification
Facial recognition technology has a tendency to mismatch certain groups, like people of color. So enforcement agencies using Clearview AI to identify criminals may get false matches, which can cause unnecessary trouble for innocent people.
Cybersecurity Risk
The company database was hacked once in the past. Now, when Clearview AI claims to have over 30 billion faceprints in its database, you have to worry that it could be vulnerable tovarious cybersecurity attacks.
In a nutshell, Clearview AI is a severe threat to your privacy. Users of this controversial technology have the power to recognize random walkers in the street, individuals demonstrating against discriminating laws, and activists fighting for a good cause. It could easily be abused by oppressive regimes.
How to Remove Yourself From Clearview AI’s Database
Your ability to delete yourself from the Clearview AI database depends on where you live and the applicable privacy laws that protect you. At present, the residents of the state of California and the state of Virginia can fill in forms to delete their information.
Go to theClearview AI homepage, and scroll all the way to the bottom. Then, click on thePrivacy & Requestsmenu.
Click on theDeletebutton to open a web form that will ask you to:
If you live in Illinois, you should click on theOpt-Outbutton to open an automated form to opt out of showing in the Clearview AI database.
In the automated form for Illinois residents, you just have to click on theI Acceptbutton to accept the Illinois Biometric Retention Policy agreement and submit your photo.
Keep Your Face Out From the View of Clearview AI
If you’re a resident of the above-mentioned states, you can opt out of the Clearview AI database. For residents in other states and other countries, the Clearview AI website doesn’t offer any information on deleting oneself from its database.
But Clearview AI scrapes people’s faces online. So avoiding posting pictures on platforms where anyone can access them freely might prevent Clearview AI from finding your faceprints and adding them to its database in the future.
Facial recognition technology is pretty widespread these days, but a lot of myths exist about it. Here they are, debunked.
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