Clearview app lets strangers find your name, info with snap of a photo, report says:
What if a stranger could snap your picture on the sidewalk then use an app to quickly discover your name, address and other details? A startup called Clearview AI has made that possible, and its app is currently being used by hundreds of law enforcement agencies in the US, including the FBI, says a Saturday report in The New York Times.
The app, says the Times, works by comparing a photo to a database of more than 3 billion pictures that Clearview says it's scraped off Facebook, Venmo, YouTube and other sites. It then serves up matches, along with links to the sites where those database photos originally appeared. A name might easily be unearthed, and from there other info could be dug up online.
The size of the Clearview database dwarfs others in use by law enforcement. The FBI's own database, which taps passport and driver's license photos, is one of the largest, with over 641 million images of US citizens.
[...] The startup said in a statement Tuesday that its "technology is intended only for use by law enforcement and security personnel. It is not intended for use by the general public."
Law enforcement officers say they've used the app to solve crimes from shoplifting to child sexual exploitation to murder. But privacy advocates warn that the app could return false matches to police and that it could also be used by stalkers and others. They've also warned that facial recognition technologies in general could be used to conduct mass surveillance.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 23 2020, @05:49AM (7 children)
Roses are red
Violets are blue
Forty percent of cops
Are domestic abusers
(Score: 0, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 23 2020, @06:20AM (6 children)
>> Forty percent of cops
>> Are domestic abusers
Lack of mutual exclusivity notwithstanding, that is still below the 43.8 percent rate of domestic abuse among lesbians. [advocate.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 23 2020, @07:38AM
On the Isle of Lesbos, the rate of, well, recent news reports [aljazeera.com].
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 23 2020, @11:30AM
2014 was 6 years ago.
I'm sure I can find studies on domestic abuse in Victorian times which will show a higher rate in heterosexual couples than the LGBT of the time.
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday January 23 2020, @03:03PM (2 children)
My abusive ex is bisexual, not lesbian, but thanks for playing.
I do wonder, though: do these statistics make any distinction between type or severity of DV? And, is anything done to correct for underreporting or other skewing bias? We only know what we're told about here.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by barbara hudson on Thursday January 23 2020, @03:43PM (1 child)
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 2, Offtopic) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday January 23 2020, @03:54PM
Yes. Yes I did notice. These statistics don't tell the whole story if they treat "she smacked me" the exact same as "he shot mommy and broke my arm!"
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 23 2020, @04:06PM
What percent of female cops are lesbians? (anecdotally it seems high)
What percent of lesbians are cops?
The partner beatings might be because they are cops instead of because they are lesbians.