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posted by martyb on Wednesday June 10 2020, @03:56PM   Printer-friendly
from the hidden-in-clearview dept.

Senator fears Clearview AI facial recognition could be used on protesters:

Sen. Edward Markey has raised concerns that police and law enforcement agencies have access to controversial facial recognition app Clearview AI in cities where people are protesting the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died two weeks ago while in the custody of Minneapolis police.

[...] "As demonstrators across the country exercise their First Amendment rights by protesting racial injustice, it is important that law enforcement does not use technological tools to stifle free speech or endanger the public," Markey said in a letter to Clearview AI CEO and co-founder Hoan Ton-That.

The threat of surveillance could also deter people from "speaking out against injustice for fear of being permanently included in law enforcement databases," he said.

Markey, who has previously hammered Clearview AI over its sales to foreign governments, use by domestic law enforcement and use in the COVID-19 pandemic, is now asking the company for a list of law enforcement agencies that have signed new contracts since May 25, 2020.

It's also being asked if search traffic on its database has increased during the past two weeks; whether it considers a law enforcement agency's "history of unlawful or discriminatory policing practices" before selling the technology to them; what process it takes to give away free trials; and whether it will prohibit its technology from being used to identify peaceful protestors.

[...] Ton-That said he will respond to the letter from Markey. "Clearview AI's technology is intended only for after-the-crime investigations, and not as a surveillance tool relating to protests or under any other circumstances," he said in an emailed statement.

Previously:

(2020-06-09) IBM Will No Longer Offer, Develop, or Research Facial Recognition Technology
(2020-05-08) Clearview AI to Stop Selling Controversial Facial Recognition App to Private Companies
(2020-04-20) Security Lapse Exposed Clearview AI Source Code
(2020-04-18) Some Shirts Hide You from Cameras
(2020-03-13) Vermont Sues Clearview, Alleging “Oppressive, Unscrupulous” Practices
(2020-02-28) Clearview AI's Facial Recognition Tech is Being Used by US Justice Department, ICE, and the FBI
(2020-02-26) Clearview AI Reports Entire Client List Was Stolen
(2020-02-24) Canadian Privacy Commissioners to Investigate "Creepy" Facial Recognition Firm Clearview AI
(2020-02-06) Clearview AI Hit with Cease-And-Desist from Google, Facebook Over Facial Recognition Collection
(2020-01-22) Clearview App Lets Strangers Find Your Name, Info with Snap of a Photo, Report Says

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by Thexalon on Wednesday June 10 2020, @08:24PM (2 children)

    by Thexalon (636) on Wednesday June 10 2020, @08:24PM (#1005971)

    The early reports were that they had both worked at the same nightclub, but the nightclub owner wasn't sure they'd overlapped shifts or interacted. Now we have people who were working there saying "Yup, they both worked at the same time, and yup, they had beef."

    --
    The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
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  • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 10 2020, @10:06PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 10 2020, @10:06PM (#1006022)

    So you're saying he wasn't killed because of systemic racism, he was killed because he was a dick (as well as a counterfeiter)? Glad we cleared that up.

    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 10 2020, @10:33PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 10 2020, @10:33PM (#1006036)

      He was killed because his killer was a dick. Systemic problems of unaccountability were revealed when he didn't even get a reprimand for killing-on-the-job. The systemic racism was revealed in how the police union boss reacted to the killing:

      Lt. Bob Kroll, president of the Minneapolis Police Officers Federation, [..] has referred to Black Lives Matter as a “terrorist organization.”
      In his first substantial reaction to the killing of Mr. Floyd and its aftermath, Lieutenant Kroll sent a letter to officers on June 1 commending their “outstanding work”