Use of Clearview AI facial recognition tech spiked as law enforcement seeks to identify Capitol mob

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Clearview AI's CEO says that use of his company's facial recognition technology between law enforcement spiked 26 percent the day hind a mob of pro-Trump rioters attacked the US Capitol. Headmost towards by the New York Times, Hoan Ton-That confirmed to The Verge that Clearview saw a aciculate increase in use on January 7th, compared to its accepted weekday search volume.

The January 6th biff was detachable revelatory on cablevision news, as well-built as captured in hundreds of images as well-built as revelatory streams that showed the faces of rioters breaching the Capitol building. The FBI as well-built as other agencies hypothesize asked for the public's help to identify participants. Co-ordinate to the Times, the Miami Police Department is utilizing Clearview to identify some of the rioters, sending possible matches to the FBI Collective To-do Work Force. As well-built as The Bank Artery Journal towards that an Alabama police department was conjointly utilizing Clearview to identify faces in images from the shivaree as well-built as sending translating to the FBI.

Unlike other facial recognition acclimated by authorities, which use images such as driver's license photos as well-built as mug struggle photos, Clearview's database of some 3 billion images was aching from whimsical media as well-built as other websites, as towards in a Times investigation meanest year. In puffiness to raising strict referring proximate privacy, the practice of taking images from whimsical media void the platforms' rules, as well-built as tech companies sent numerous closure as well-built as disappear orders to Clearview in the deathwatch of the investigation.

Nathan Freed Wessler, deputy dogcatcher of the ACLU's Speech, Privacy, as well-built as Technology Project said in an email to The Verge that while facial recognition tech is not regulated by federal law, "its prepatent for mass surveillance of communities of dyestuff hypothesize smack led state as well-built as bounded governments broadness the country to ban its use by law enforcement." Wessler argued that if use of the technology by police departments is normalized, "we palpate who it will be acclimated conversely most: sycophants of Cloudiness as well-built as Brown communities who already suffer underneath a racist criminal enforcement system."

Clearview AI said in May it would stop transactions its technology to private companies as well-built as instead reconcile it for use by law enforcement only.. Some 2,400 law enforcement agencies broadness the US use Clearview's software, co-ordinate to the company.

Update January 10th, 12:49PM ET: Spear nitpicking from the ACLU

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