In a landmark deal, facial recognition company Clearwater AI, known for downloading billions of users’ photos from social media and other websites to build databases facial search data for use by law enforcement agencies, has agreed to stop sales to private companies and individuals in the United States. Statuses.
Filed in Illinois federal court on Monday, the settlement marks the most significant action against the New York-based company to date, and dominates in a technology that is believed to have been Ukraine used to follow “people of interest” in the ongoing invasion of Russia.
The lawsuit was brought in 2020 by the nonprofit American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Mujeres Latinas en Acción, among others, alleging violations of Illinois’ digital privacy law, with settlement The decision is pending approval by a federal judge. Passed in 2008, Illinois’ law, known as the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), has led to a number of important privacy-technology settlements to date, including including $550 million payout from Facebook regarding its use of facial recognition.
Although Clearwater AI has agreed to stop selling its services to the Illinois government and local police services for five years, the company will continue to provide its services to law enforcement and other federal agencies as well as government contractors outside of Illinois.
Even so, Linda Xôhitl Tortolero, president and chief executive officer of Mujeres Latinas en Acción, a nonprofit organization based in Chicago, stated in a declare that the settlement was a “big win for Illinois’ most vulnerable people”.
“Prior to this agreement, Clearview ignored the fact that biometric information could be misused to create dangerous and life-threatening situations. Today that is no longer the case. “
In addition, the settlement requires the company to maintain an “opt-out request form” on its website so that Illinois residents can upload their own photos to ensure their tracks are undetected. block appearing in Clearview search results. The company will also pay $50,000 for internet advertising to promote the opt-out request functionality.
The agreement follows a push in February by members of Congress asking the federal government to end the use of Clearview AI’s facial recognition technology.
“Facial recognition tools pose a serious threat to civil liberties and public privacy, and Clearview AI’s products are particularly dangerous. We urge you to stop using recognition technology immediately. faces of the Department, including Clearview AI tools. Clearview AI technology can eliminate public anonymity in the United States,” members of Congress wrote. in a letter to Homeland Security.
Before solvingClearview announced that its publicly available 10 billion facial image database is “the largest known database in the world” and that the company was on the right track to have about 100 billion facial prints in a year, enough to ensure “most people in the world are identifiable.”
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