Jul 07, 2020 15:00:00

'Clearview AI', which provides face authentication technology using more than 3 billion face pictures on the net, is terminated by a legal institution due to privacy issues

In July 2020, all Canadian legal institutions stopped contracting with

Clearview AI, which provides face recognition apps. The company has long been facing the problem of collecting more than 3 billion face pictures on the Internet and using them for face recognition technology, and is facing privacy-related lawsuits.

News release: Clearview AI ceases offering its facial recognition technology in Canada-Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
https://priv.gc.ca/en/opc-news/news-and-announcements/2020/nr-c_200706/

Facial-Recognition Firm Ends Operations in Canada, Watchdog Says-Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-06/facial-recognition-firm-ends-operations-in-canada-watchdog-says

Clearview AI stops offering facial recognition software in Canada amid privacy probe | CBC News
https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/clearview-ai-stops-facial-recognition-in-canada-1.5639380

Clearview AI is an American startup founded in 2017. In January 2020, ``A facial recognition app developed by Clearview AI and used by many law enforcement agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was collected from SNS etc. without user's consent about 30 We are using 100 million facial photos.” It was a big scandal. In response to this, companies such as GoogleYouTubeVenmo did.

Google, YouTube, Venmo, LinkedIn, etc. demand that data usage be stopped by ``Clearview AI'' which develops a face recognition application from more than 3 billion face pictures on the net-GIGAZINE

by Steven Lilley

Similar to the United States, many law enforcement agencies in Canada had contracts with Clearview AI, but due to the privacy issues described above, the Canadian privacy protection committee collected Canadian personal information collected by Clearview AI etc. I started to investigate.

After the investigation began, each Canadian law enforcement agency terminated its contract with Clearview AI, and on July 6, 2020, the Canadian Federal Police Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced an indefinite termination of the contract with Clearview AI. All Canadian law enforcement agencies have virtually terminated their contract with Clearview AI.

At the time of writing the article, the privacy protection committee's investigation is still ongoing, and no ruling has been made yet. The Privacy Commission said, 'We appreciate the Clearview AI's cooperation with previous investigations and look forward to its continued cooperation until a conclusion is reached.' 'The importance of Canadian privacy rights We will announce the survey result after taking into consideration the above.”

'We are proud of the Canadian law enforcement agency's track record in assisting Canadian law enforcement agencies in investigating heinous crimes, including crimes against children. We will work with the Privacy Protection Committee on the matter.'

A Canadian legal entity has terminated the contract with Clearview AI, but Clearview AI's face recognition app is used by retailers, financial institutions, and government agencies in many countries.