Category Archives: Clearview AI

Feds’ spending on facial recognition tech continues unmitigated, despite privacy concerns

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The FBI on Dec. 30 signed a deal with Clearview AI for an $18,000 subscription license to the company’s facial recognition technology. While the value of the contract might seem just a drop in the bucket for the agency’s nearly $10 billion budget, the contract was significant in that it cemented the agency’s relationship with the controversial firm. The FBI previously acknowledged using Clearview AI to the Government Accountability Office but did not specify if it had a contract with the company. The FBI didn’t respond to a request for comment, but it isn’t the only federal law enforcement agency to ramp up its procurement of privately-owned facial recognition technologies in recent months. In September, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spent almost $4 million on facial recognition technology from a company called Trust Stamp, as Business Insider first reported. The same month agency purchased a contract with Clearview AI starting at […]

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UK threatens Clearview AI with nearly $23M fine over its facial recognition tech

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British regulators say they intend to fine Clearview AI, a facial recognition company that bills itself as the world’s largest, nearly $23 million for “alleged serious breaches” of the nation’s data protection laws. The fines stem from a joint investigation by the U.K. Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and its Australian counterpart. The ICO now awaits a response from Clearview AI before possibly levying the fine in mid-2022. “I have significant concerns that personal data was processed in a way that nobody in the UK will have expected,” U.K. Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said on Monday. “Clearview AI Inc’s services are no longer being offered in the UK. However, the evidence we’ve gathered and analysed suggests Clearview AI Inc were and may be continuing to process significant volumes of UK people’s information without their knowledge.” The increased scrutiny from U.K. regulators has something of a parallel in the U.S., where in […]

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Clearview AI raises $30M to accelerate growth in image-search technology

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Clearview AI announced the successful close of a $30 million Series B funding round that now values the company at $130 million. The investment, which includes funds from institutional investors and family offices, will fuel Clearview’s continued growt… Continue reading Clearview AI raises $30M to accelerate growth in image-search technology→

Momentum builds on federal oversight of facial recognition tech after reported abuses

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Lawmakers in the House and Senate are considering legislation that would halt the use of facial recognition and biometric data collection tools by federal law enforcement, signaling that the controversial technologies may soon be subject to oversight after years of debate and revelations about its role in discriminatory policing. The Facial Recognition and Biometric Technology Moratorium Act, reintroduced in June by Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), would fully ban the use of facial recognition and biometric technology by federal agencies, barring a lift by Congress. It would also block funding to state and local law enforcement who do not cease use of the tech. The bill would allow cities and states to keep and make their own laws. More than 40 privacy and civil liberties groups have thrown their weight on the Hill and organizing power behind the Biometric Technology Moratorium Act, saying that cases in […]

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US watchdog urges federal law enforcement to better track facial recognition amid accuracy concerns

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More than a dozen U.S. federal agencies where law enforcement officers use facial recognition technology are unable to account for which systems their employees use, according to a federal watchdog report released Tuesday. The U.S. Secret Service, Customers and Border Protection and the FBI are among the agencies that don’t track the type of facial recognition technologies used used from sources other than the federal government, according to a Government Accountability Office report examining use of the surveillance technology. The examination provides an unprecedented look at the use of facial recognition systems in the federal government, and illuminates a lack of accountability could lead to increased privacy risks for the public, government auditors concluded. “In particular, these risks can relate to privacy and the accuracy of a system,” the agency warned. That concern stems from a growing body of evidence that facial recognition technologies, which are unregulated by the federal […]

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After Van Buren, are Data Scraping Cases Barred?

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The federal computer crime law makes it both a criminal offense and a civil offense (you can sue for damages or loss) for someone to “access a computer without authorization” or to “exceed authorized access” to a computer, and then do certain proscrib… Continue reading After Van Buren, are Data Scraping Cases Barred?→

Lawsuit Claims Flawed Facial Recognition Led to Man’s Wrongful Arrest

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Black man sues police, saying he was falsely ID’d by facial recognition, joining other Black Americans falling victim to the technology’s racial bias. Continue reading Lawsuit Claims Flawed Facial Recognition Led to Man’s Wrongful Arrest→