Facial recognition company Clearview AI has revealed that it has performed approximately 1 million searches on U.S. police departments.
Facial recognition technology is a controversial topic, and for good reason. Clearview AI's technology allows law enforcement to upload a suspect's mugshot and find a match in a database of billions of images collected.
Clearview AI CEO Hoan Ton-That revealed in an interview with the BBC that the company has collected 30 billion images from platforms such as Facebook. Image was taken without user's permission.
The company has repeatedly been fined millions of dollars in privacy violations in Europe and Australia, but U.S. police still use its powerful software.
Matthew Guaragiria of the Electronic Frontier Foundation said police use of ClearView would put everyone in “constant police line-up.”
Although the use of facial recognition by police is often touted to the public as being used only for serious or violent crimes, Miami Police told the BBC that they use Clearview AI's software for all types of crimes. admitted that he was doing it.
Miami Police Department Deputy Chief Armando Aguilar said his team uses Clearview AI's system about 450 times a year, and it has helped solve several murder cases.
However, there have been numerous documented cases in which police have used facial recognition to make cases of mistaken identity. For example, Robert Williams was unjustly arrested on his home lawn in front of his family and held overnight in a “crowded and filthy” cell.
“The dangers of facial recognition technology are not hypothetical. Study after study and real life have already shown how dangerous they are,” the ACLU said following the reintroduction of the Facial Recognition and Biometrics Technology Moratorium Act. Kate Ruane, Senior Legislative Counsel, explained.
“When used against people of color, this technology's shocking inaccuracy has led to the false arrests of multiple Black men, including ACLU client Robert Williams.”
The lack of transparency around the use of facial recognition by police means the actual number of false arrests it causes is likely to be much higher.
Civil rights activists want police departments using Clearview AI to openly state when the AI is used and have its accuracy publicly tested in court. They want the system to be scrutinized by independent experts.
The use of facial recognition technology by police is a controversial issue. While it may help solve crimes, it also poses a threat to civil liberties and privacy.
After all, there is a fine line between using technology to fight crime and violating the rights of individuals, and one must be walked carefully.
Related: Clearview AI lawyer: 'General law has never recognized the right to facial privacy'
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