According to the verge report, facial recognition monitoring company Clearview AI has agreed to permanently prohibit most private companies from using its services under the court's settlement agreement** The agreement Filed in an Illinois Court on Monday, it will settle the 2020 American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) lawsuit, which claims that the company's business is based on facial recognition data without user consent. The agreement formalizes the measures Clearview has taken and protects the company from further prosecution by ACLU under the Illinois biometric information privacy act (BIPA).
As part of the settlement, Clearview agreed to issue a permanent ban across the United States to restrict the sale (or free distribution) of its huge database of face photos - many of which were originally collected from social networks such as Facebook. The ban prohibits the company from dealing with most private businesses and individuals in the United States, including government employees who do not represent their employers. Nor can it deal with any Illinois or local government agency for a period of five years. In addition to trying to delete photos of any Illinois resident, it must also maintain an exit plan for residents who want to block any search using their face or prevent the collection of their photos.
Clearview can still work with federal agencies and local police departments as long as they are outside Illinois.
The ACLU called the settlement a victory. ACLU comments Nathan free wessler, deputy director of privacy and technology programs, said: "By requiring Clearview to comply with Illinois' groundbreaking biometric privacy laws not only in this state, but also across the United States, this settlement shows that strong privacy laws can provide real protection against abuse. Clearview can no longer use people's unique biometrics as an unrestricted source of profits. It would be wise for other companies to take note of this, and other states should follow the example of Illinois Strong biometric privacy laws. "
So far, Illinois is one of the only states in the United States to enact biometric privacy laws, which makes it the center of activists trying to fight face recognition tools that undermine privacy. Facebook agreed last year to pay $650 million in BIPA's class action lawsuit.
Clearview announced in 2020 that it would stop working with private companies and provided a list that apparently included Bank of America, Macy's and Wal Mart. The company has instead focused on working with thousands of local law enforcement agencies and federal agencies such as the Ministry of justice, which have controversially used them for general-purpose police work and unusual events, such as the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021.
Under the agreement, these contracts are still allowed to be used outside Illinois, although Clearview will no longer provide free trials to individual police without the Department's knowledge. But this approach faces opposition from some state and local governments, where legislators have restricted the government's use of all facial recognition databases, including Clearview.
