#Clearview ai recognition on to win free#

But even before Monday’s settlement, the case has been curtailing some of the company’s controversial business practices.Ĭlearview AI co-founder and CEO Hoan Ton-That told The Associated Press in April that the company was preparing to launch a new “consent-based” business product to compete with the likes of Amazon and Microsoft in verifying people’s identity using facial recognition. The settlement document says Clearview continues to deny and dispute the claims brought by the ACLU and other plaintiffs. “It also highlights the fact that there are many ways that social media - and the technology companies that collect this kind of information - can be harmful to Americans.” “It shows we can fight these companies when they’re taking these kinds of actions,” Tortolero said of the Clearview settlement. Another privacy lawsuit over the same Illinois law led Facebook last year to agree to pay $650 million to settle allegations it used photo face-tagging and other biometric data without the permission of its users. Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act allows consumers to sue companies that don’t get permission before harvesting data such as faces and fingerprints.

#Clearview ai recognition on to win free#

“The settlement does not require any material change in the company’s business model or bar it from any conduct in which it engages at the present time,” said a statement from Floyd Abrams, a lawyer known for taking on high-profile free speech cases.Ībrams noted that the company was already not providing its services to police agencies in Illinois and agreed to the 5-year moratorium to “avoid a protracted, costly and distracting legal dispute with the ACLU and others.” Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and to other law enforcement agencies and government contractors outside of Illinois.įlooding in Venice worsens off-season amid climate changeĪmong the concerns raised by Tortolero’s group was that photos posted on social media sites such as Facebook or Instagram - and turned into a “faceprint” by Clearview - could end up being used by stalkers, ex-partners or predatory companies to track a person’s whereabouts and social activity.Ī prominent attorney who was defending Clearview against the lawsuit said the company is “pleased to put this litigation behind it.”

The New York-based company will continue offering its services to federal agencies, such as U.S. The company still faces a separate privacy case before a federal judge in Illinois.Ĭlearview is also agreeing to stop making its database available to Illinois state government and local police departments for five years.

The settlement - which must be approved by a county judge in Chicago - will end a 2-year-old lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups over alleged violations of an Illinois digital privacy law. The company in a legal filing Monday agreed to permanently stop selling access to its face database to private businesses or individuals around the U.S., putting a limit on what it can do with its ever-growing trove of billions of images pulled from social media and elsewhere on the internet. CHICAGO (AP) - Facial recognition startup Clearview AI has agreed to restrict the use of its massive collection of face images to settle allegations that it collected people’s photos without their consent.