It is widely known that law-enforcement agencies use social media to identify suspects in crimes. A lot of us are aware of cases where a criminal creates a self-incriminating post, law-enforcement sees it, and shortly afterwards (SURPRISE!) makes an arrest.
Well, there’s an update to how social media is being used. The new development involves a startup by the name of Clearview AI, and their creation of databases filled with images and information scraped (I’ll define this later) from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other various websites and platforms.
Clearview AI’s business model can be summed up pretty simply:
- Take as much image data as can be (legally?) obtained from as many data sources as possible (Facebook, Twitter, etc).
- Store said images and data in their own databases.
- Pair said data with their own AI (Artificial Intelligence) software to make it “searchable”.
- Sell this as a package to law-enforcement and corporations.
This is where the rubber meets the pavement in the fight for digital privacy. According to a Business Insider report, more than 600 law-enforcement agencies have already adopted this software. I’ll say that again: more than 600 law-enforcement agencies have already adopted this software.
The method of data collection that Clearview AI uses to build their databases is known as “scraping”, which entails siphoning information from a website and storing it; unbeknownst to the users whose data is being siphoned, and most certainly without the permission or knowledge of the company/owners of the website.
This practice inherently violates the terms and conditions of many of the sites Clearview AI used to build its databases upon, and as a result, companies including Facebook, Twitter, Venmo, and others have stated that the use of their data for facial recognition violates the terms of their site use. Facebook went further to say that they are in the process of investigating Clearview AI. I’ll remind readers that Facebook does not have any law enforcement capacities whatsoever, so don’t expect much from that perusal.
While I personally go back and forth on my feelings of this development (Hey! you put your pictures/info online, so you have no right to privacy – you got what you deserve. VERSUS Hey! Everyone should have control of their own data). I would be remiss if I didn’t say I take issue with Clearview AI and their tactics. I’ve always held the belief that it would only be a matter of time before the social media kids would regret their decision to blast every detail of their lives share their personal data so publicly; I didn’t think that time would come so quickly or by way of a private company.