Clearview AI

Clearview AI is a developer of an artificial intelligence-based research tool designed to help law enforcement agencies identify perpetrators and victims of crimes. The company's platform uses facial-recognition algorithms and a database of more than 20 billion facial images sourced from public-only web sources, such as news media, mugshot websites, public social media, and other open sources. Clearview AI's tools are used to help law enforcement track criminals, exonerate the innocent, and identify victims of crimes.

The company was founded in 2017 by Hoan Ton-That and is headquartered in New York City. The platform is built to serve federal, state, tribal, and local law enforcement agencies and has been used by the following agencies:

Clearview AI is a developer of an artificial intelligence-based research tool designed to help law enforcement agencies identify perpetrators and victims of crimes. The company's platform uses facial recognitionfacial-recognition algorithms and a database of more than 20 billion facial images sourced from public-only web sources, such as news media, mugshot websites, public social media, and other open sources. Clearview AI's tools are used to help law enforcement track criminals, exonerate the innocent, and identify victims of crimes.

The company states its facial recognitionfacial-recognition algorithms are greater than 99 percent accurate across all demographics through the database. The algorithms are intended to be weighted so the platform is not biased against prior offenders. This technology is also capable of being used on cold cases to generate new leads, insights, and associations that may have otherwise been missed by other law enforcement strategies or databases.

In May 2022, Clearview AI agreed to restrict US sales of the company's facial-recognition software in the United States to law enforcement agencies in the country. This settlement came after a two year oldtwo-year lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups over alleged violations of an Illinois digital privacy law. As part of this, Clearview AI also agreed to not make the company's database available to Illinois state government and local police departments for five years.

These lawsuits against Clearview came due to privacy concerns from Chicago-based Mujeres Latinas en Accion, which works with survivors of gender-based violence, and was a plaintiff with the ACLU,. andThe weregroup was concerned that Clearview AI's database could be used by stalkers, ex-partners, or other predators in order to track an individual's whereabouts or other social activity.

In February 2021, it was determined that Clearview AI, who hadwhich soldprovided the company's platform and publicly sourced database of images to the RCMP and Toronto Police Service, and more specifically Clearview AI's platform and its database of public-source images had violated federal and provincial private-sector laws by scraping those images from the internet without permissionspermission.

In the original joint investigation by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, including its counterparts of the Commission d’accès à l’information du Québec, the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia, and the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta, there were severalput recommendations thatin wereplace putfor forward. Thesethe includedfollowing requirements thatof Clearview AI:

• Stop offering its facial recognitionfacial-recognition services that have been the subject of the investigation in the three provinces above mentioned

In 2022, the Canadian government and related agencies ordered Clearview AI to follow the above recommendations, after it had been alleged that, as of December 2021, Clearview had not stopped processing or deleted the images and biometric information of Canadians as had been recommended in July 2020. Clearview AI had previously advised the Commissioners of the recommendationcommissioners that it complied with the first recommendation of July 2020. The order in 2022 allows Clearview AI to seek judicial review and allow courts to reconsider and overturn the order, and if the order is not overturned, Clearview AI could be subject to monetary penalties for non-compliance.

One of the complications of these orders has been the use of Clearview AI on the part of the Toronto Police Service. BetweenIt was discovered that between October 2019 and February 2020, it was discovered that officers uploaded more than 2,800 images to the company's database, and admitted officers used the service in an approximate 84eighty-four criminal investigations during this time. The later orders regarding Clearview AI's software would put the cases in jeopardy, and they could be subject to re-trial.

On March 13, 2022, it was revealed that Clearview AI's facial recognitionfacial-recognition technology was offered to the Ukrainian defense ministry during the Ukraine-Russia conflict. Clearview AI suggested the ministry could use the software in order to uncover Russian assailants, and combat misinformation, and identify the deceased. As part of the deal, Ukraine was said to be offered free access to Clearview AI's facial recognitionfacial-recognition software, which would allow authorities to vet people of interest at checkpoints, among other uses.

In May 2022, Clearview AI agreed to restrict sales of the company's facial-recognition software in the United States to law enforcement agencies in the country. This settlement came after a two year old lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups over alleged violations of an Illinois digital privacy law. As part of this, Clearview AI also agreed to not make the company's database to Illinois state government and local police departments for five years.

These lawsuits against Clearview came due to privacy concerns from Chicago-based Mujeres Latinas en Accion, which works with survivors of gender-based violence, and was a plaintiff with the ACLU, and were concerned Clearview AI's database be used by stalkers, ex-partners, or other predators in order to track an individual's whereabouts or other social activity.

In February 2021, it was determined that Clearview AI, who had sold the company's platform to the RCMP and Toronto Police Service, and more specifically Clearview AI's platform and its database of public-source images had violated federal and provincial private-sector laws by scraping those images from the internet without permissions.

In the original joint investigation by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, the Commission d’accès à l’information du Québec, the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia, and the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta, there were several recommendations that were put forward. These included requirements that Clearview AI:

• Stop offering its facial recognition services that have been the subject of the investigation in the three provinces above mentioned
• Stop collecting, using, and disclosing images of people in the three provinces without consent
• Delete images and biometric facial arrays collected without consent from individuals in the three provinces

In 2022, the Canadian government and related agencies ordered Clearview AI to follow the above recommendations, after it had been alleged that, as of December 2021, Clearview had not stopped processing or deleted the images and biometric information of Canadians as had been recommended in July 2020. Clearview AI had previously advised the Commissioners of the recommendation that it complied with the first recommendation of July 2020. The order in 2022 allows Clearview AI to seek judicial review and allow courts to reconsider and overturn the order, and if the order is not overturned, Clearview AI could be subject to monetary penalties for non-compliance.

One of the complications of these orders has been the use of Clearview AI on the part of the Toronto Police Service. Between October 2019 and February 2020, it was discovered that officers uploaded more than 2,800 images to the company's database, and admitted officers used the service in an approximate 84 criminal investigations during this time. The later orders regarding Clearview AI's software would put the cases in jeopardy, and subject to re-trial.

On March 13, 2022, it was revealed that Clearview AI's facial recognition technology was offered to the Ukrainian defense ministry during the Ukraine-Russia conflict. Clearview AI suggested the ministry could use the software in order to uncover Russian assailants, combat misinformation, and identify the deceased. As part of the deal, Ukraine was said to be offered free access to Clearview AI's facial recognition software, which would allow authorities to vet people of interest at checkpoints, among other uses.

Clearview AI is a developer of an artificial intelligence-based research tool designed to help law enforcement agencies to identify perpetrators and victims of crimes. The company's platform uses facial recognition algorithms and a database of more than 20 billion facial images sourced from public-only web sources, such as news media, mugshot websites, public social media, and other open sources. Clearview AI's tools are used to help law enforcement track criminals, and to exonerate the innocent, orand identify victims of crimes.

The company was founded in 2017 by Hoan Ton-That and is headquartered in New York City. The platform is built to serve federal, state, tribal, and local law enforcement agencies, and has been used by the following agencies including Fairfield Athens Major Crimes Unit Task Force, the Georgia Police Department, the Milton Police Department, the Montgomery Country Texas Constable's Office, the Anderson County Sheriff's Office.:

• Fairfield Athens Major Crimes Unit Task Force
• The Georgia Police Department
• The Milton Police Department
• The Montgomery Country Texas Constable's Office
• The Anderson County Sheriff's Office

Clearview AI's platform is an artificial intelligence and computer vision platform enabling facial recognition for law enforcement agencies. The company suggests the platform can be used by theselaw agencies for lead generation and for public safety. Further, it is built with compliance features for increased oversight, accountability, and transparency within those law enforcement agencies, with other software tools intended to increaseimprove its user-friendlyuser-friendliness, such as dashboards, reporting, and metrics tools.

The platform includes a database of over 20 billion facial images, which law enforcement agencies can use to receive leads, whichthat, when supported by other pieces of evidence, can help accurately identify suspects, persons of interest, and victims in order to help those agencies solve and, according to Clearview AI,potentially prevent crimes.

Further, theThe company has developedstates its facial recognition algorithms to be around orare greater than 99 percent accurate across all demographics through the database. AndThe italgorithms isare intended to be weighted so the platform is not biased against prior offenders. This technology is also capable of being used on cold cases to generate new leads, insights, and associations that the platform is not biased against prior offenders. This technology is also capable of being used on cold cases to generate new leads, insights, and associations which may have otherwise been missed by other law enforcement strategies or databases.