Millions of dollars have been fined against the corporation over and over again in Europe and Australia for privacy violations. Critics, however, argue that the police using Clearview to their aid puts everyone into a “perpetual police line-up.”
"Whenever they have a photo of a suspect, they will compare it to your face[…]It's far too invasive," says Matthew Guariglia from the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
The figure has not yet been clarified by the police in regard to the million searches conducted by Clearview. But, Miami Police has admitted to using this software for all types of crimes in a rare revelation to the BBC.
How Does Clearview Works
Clearview’s system enables a law enforcement customer to upload an image of a face, followed by looking for matches in a database of billions of images it has in store. It then provides links to where the corresponding images appear online. It is regarded as one of the world's most potent and reliable facial recognition companies.
The firm has now been banned from providing its services to most US companies after the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) accused Clearview AI of violating privacy laws. However, there seems to be an exemption for police, with Mr. Ton saying that his software is used by hundreds of police forces across the US.
Yet, the US police do not routinely reveal if they do use the software, and in fact have banned the software in several US cities like Portland, San Francisco, and Seattle.
Police frequently portray the use of facial recognition technology to the public as being limited to serious or violent offenses.
Moreover, in an interview with law enforcement about the efficiency of Clearview, Miami Police admitted to having used the software for all types of crime, from murders to shoplifting. Assistant Chief of Police Armando Aguilar said his team used the software around 450 times a year, and it has helped in solving murder cases.
Yet, critics claim that there are hardly any rules governing the use of facial recognition by police.