Clearview AI, a company already making waves with its massive facial recognition database, recently tried to expand even more by attempting to purchase a huge collection of arrest records. This includes not just mugshots, but also sensitive personal data. You might be wondering why this matters. Well, in 2019, Clearview signed a contract with Investigative Consultant, Inc. to acquire about 690 million arrest records and 390 million arrest photos from across the United States.
Jeramie Scott from the Electronic Privacy Information Center points out that this deal wasn’t just about mugshots. It also aimed to collect social security numbers, email, and home addresses. That’s a lot of personal information! However, things didn’t go as planned. After Clearview paid $750,000, they found the data unusable, leading to both companies accusing each other of breaking the contract. An arbitrator sided with Clearview in December 2023, but the company is still trying to get its money back through legal channels.
This situation has privacy advocates on edge. Mixing facial recognition with criminal justice data can be risky. Scott highlights the potential for bias, especially against Black and brown communities, who are already overrepresented in the criminal justice system.
Facial recognition technology isn’t perfect. It’s been criticized for errors, particularly with darker skin tones, which can lead to wrongful arrests. I’ve seen this firsthand in a case where facial recognition mistakenly identified someone, but they were later cleared by cell phone evidence showing they were somewhere else. It really shows the dangers of relying too much on technology without solid evidence.
Globally, Clearview AI is facing a maze of legal challenges. While they recently overturned a £7.5 million fine in the UK, they’re still under the microscope internationally for privacy breaches. The company, which offers its technology to law enforcement, has been criticized for collecting billions of images from social media without consent.
As the facial recognition industry faces calls for more regulation and transparency, Clearview’s data acquisition attempts highlight ongoing concerns about privacy, consent, and potential biases in these powerful technologies.
