March 29, 2023
According to Clearview AI CEO Hoan Ton-That in an interview with the BBC, the company has conducted nearly a million searches for U.S. police. Ton-That also confirmed that Clearview now has 30 billion images scraped without user permission from social media platforms such as Facebook.
Clearview’s facial recognition system enables law enforcement customers to upload a face photo and compare it to a database of billions of images compiled by the company. It is regarded as one of the most accurate and powerful facial recognition systems in the world. The million-search figure comes from Clearview and has yet to be confirmed by police. However, Miami Police confirmed to the BBC that Clearview is used for all types of crimes.
In Europe and Australia, the company has been fined millions of dollars for violating privacy laws on numerous occasions. Civil liberties groups have criticized police use of the firm, claiming that it forces everyone into a “perpetual police line-up.”
The sources for this piece include an article in BBC.
