Clearview AI, the American company “master” of 40 billion of our faces
If anyone thinks that the privacy of each of us could be in danger, don’t worry, privacy is already something (at least in the United States) that is quite at risk. And Clearview Ai is a significant example of this. The American company, although among the most discussed, is rich in a wealth of 40 billion photos of people, a wealth of human faces essential for facial recognition. All this thanks to a super algorithm capable of “sucking” our photos from the great ocean of the internet and social media. Clearview said faces can identify people with an accuracy level of 99.85%while recognizing that improvements can be made to eliminate even the very low error percentage. Without any explicit consent of the registered people, the company has created an asset of unimaginable value, a collection of facial images on the Internet, which includes news portals, blogs, websites and social networks such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Clearview AI, in Europe privacy laws do not allow this activity
An operation of this type would violate European privacy laws but in the United States there is nothing yet to prohibit this activity. It is clear to everyone that research of this type would allow a camera equipped with facial biometrics technology to track any face and store it in secret files and available to those who pay the best. And who are the potential customers who are buying this immense database behind our backs, allowing the American company to earn significant profits? Governments, economic and political power groups of all kinds, security forces and national and local police. Probably not even the FBI or the CIA have such a list at their disposal. For Clearview Ai the goal of this work is to help identify criminals, attackers and fugitives. But, probably, the morsel is so tempting, it appeals to many realities and perhaps even a certain not entirely legal world that might have an interest in having part of these files.
Clearview Ai, new laws ready in the United States too
Of course, even the United States, faced with this activity, is taking action and there is already talk of new laws that prevent the American government “from purchasing or using data obtained illegally or in violation of the terms of service”. The European regulation is very different and underlines how “everyone has the right to be forgotten and the right to erasure. If a company has collected my data and I wanted to erase it, even if I had given my consent, I would have to erase it.” And the fines in Europe (France, Italy and Greece) to Clearview for the illegal activity came with the order to delete the files. The only result was that Clearview decided not to expand in the Old Continent. But Clearview’s rivals immediately appeared. Among these PimEyes, a site that allows you to search for faces only through a photo. Then the English Facia.AI which provides a large file of faces and then the American Palantir. SAccording to some, Peter Thiel’s (Trump campaign supporter) Clearview funds initially came from the CIA and many of his clients are the United States and United Kingdom Armed Forces. In conclusion, however, it is worth remembering that data of this type is not an individual good, but a collective and social good. And above all a good that must be done with the consent of all participants. And no response to this.