#Clearview license
#Clearview plus

You have to request access to learn more, let alone use the service. Sure, Clearview AI isn't readily available to the public, and when you visit the company's website, there isn't really much information on the app at all. The FBI has a database of 411 million photos, while more local authorities, like the Los Angeles Police Department, only have access to about eight million images. Other databases pale in comparison, according to marketing materials the company provided to law enforcement agencies. What's more, some security companies even have access to Clearview AI, which sets a dangerous precedent.Ĭlearview AI features a database of over three billion images, which were scraped from websites like Facebook, Twitter, and even Venmo. In San Francisco, for instance, it's not even legal for law enforcement to use facial recognition.

#Clearview plus

It's not just extremely dangerous because stalkers could instantly find people through the app and hound them over social media or even show up at their house, but because hundreds of law enforcement agencies, plus the FBI, are currently using this facial recognition technology, despite the pushback the tech has seen in legislative spaces. That's a privacy disaster any way you slice it-but it's also at the heart of an app called Clearview AI, which The New York Times recently called 'The Secretive Company That Might End Privacy as We Know It.' Let's say a random stranger approaches you on the street, snaps a quick photo of you in a public place (which is perfectly legal), uploads the photo to an app, and soon finds your social media profiles. These photos were sourced from social media sites and even apps like Venmo. The app uses over three billion images to find a match.Hundreds of law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, are already using this facial recognition technology, despite bans on the tech in cities like San Francisco.Clearview AI, a small startup that was mostly unknown until a story from The New York Times called it the app to 'end privacy as we know it,' lets strangers figure out your identity through the quick snap of a single photo.The FBI didn't immediately have a comment.

'But its very power also makes it ripe for abuse.' 'Facial recognition technology can be a powerful tool for law enforcement officials,' one of the senators, Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah, said in a statement at the time. In November, two senators introduced a bipartisan bill that would limit how agencies like the FBI and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement could use the tech. Gerry Connolly, a Democrat from Virginia, said at the hearing. 'We're going to have to really grapple with what are the parameters of protecting privacy and controlling the use of this technology,' Rep. On Wednesday, the House Oversight Committee held its third hearing on facial recognition, as lawmakers look to address the tech's use in public spaces by both private companies and government agencies. A few cities, including San Francisco, have banned its use, but there aren't yet any federal laws. Regulation of facial recognition technology is up in the air in the US. They've also warned that facial recognition technologies in general could be used to conduct mass surveillance. But privacy advocates warn that the app could return false matches to police and that it could also be used by stalkers and others. Law enforcement officers say they've used the app to solve crimes from shoplifting to child sexual exploitation to murder. It is not intended for use by the general public.' The startup said in a statement Tuesday that its 'technology is intended only for use by law enforcement and security personnel. The Clearview app isn't available to the public, but the Times says police officers and Clearview investors think it will be in the future.

#Clearview license

The FBI's own database, which taps passport and driver's license photos, is one of the largest, with over 641 million images of US citizens. The size of the Clearview database dwarfs others in use by law enforcement. A name might easily be unearthed, and from there other info could be dug up online. It then serves up matches, along with links to the sites where those database photos originally appeared. The app, says the Times, works by comparing a photo to a database of more than 3 billion pictures that Clearview says it's scraped off Facebook, Venmo, YouTube and other sites. What if a stranger could snap your picture on the sidewalk, then use an app to quickly discover your name, address and other details? A startup called Clearview AI has made that possible, and its app is being used by hundreds of law enforcement agencies in the US, including the FBI, according to a Saturday report in The New York Times. 'Just a face in the crowd.' That figure of speech may one day need a footnote to explain it.