What is Clearview AI for Business?
The idea behind the American tech company is apparently simple: compile the largest possible database of faces and run facial recognition software on it. That database, consisting of billions of images, comes from social media, with associated data such as first and last names. Anyone who has their photo on Facebook, LinkedIn or other social media probably has a place in that Clearview database. Step two is the match with other photos, for example from a security camera. Who is the face in that photo? Clearview provides the answer.
The company was founded in 2017 by Hoan Ton-That and Richard Schwartz, with support from Silicon Valley billionaire Facebook investor and Donald Trump supporter Pieter Thiel. It remained under the radar for a long time, until Twitter went to court in January 2020 and ordered Clearview to delete all data from its users. Later, YouTube and Facebook demanded the same. Investigative services and police forces are also fans of the software company. They love the possibilities and the ease of use.
What should Ukraine do with that software?
The database, which now contains more than ten billion photos, contains more than two billion photos of Russians coming from VKontakte. This is the widely used alternative to Facebook in Russia. Initially, it was mainly about identifying Russians at checkpoints, later the software turned out to be able to be used to identify fallen Russian soldiers. According to recent reports in the Washington Post Ukrainian authorities have now run the database on the faces of more than 8,600 fallen Russians. A group of hackers and activists led by the Ukrainian government subsequently notified the families of 582 Russians of the death of their loved one, including sending them the photos of the bodies. With this they want to puncture the Russian propaganda in their own country. Ukraine can use the software for free, Clearview founder and board chairman Hoan Ton-That previously called it ‘an honor’ to be able to help the country in this way.
Does that work well?
The software works very accurately, Clearview assures itself. The search engine for faces would be in 99 percent of the cases give the correct answer. But experts find even this high percentage problematic. ‘When facial recognition makes mistakes in peacetime, people are wrongfully arrested,’ says cyber expert and lawyer Albert Fox Cahn in front of the American magazine Forbes† “But if she makes mistakes in wartime, innocent people get shot.” He calls the use of the technology a ‘potential human rights catastrophe’. Others fear that the idea of confronting Russian families with photos of the bodies of their loved ones will backfire and increase hatred towards Ukraine.
Are there any more dangers?
The New York Times Two years ago, Clearview called ‘the secretive company that sometimes… can end privacy as we have known it until now’. Privacy advocates and civil rights organizations are therefore very concerned. War zones are often used as testing grounds, not only for weapons, but also for surveillance tools that are later deployed on the civilian population. warns for example, Evan Greer of the American civil rights organization Fight for the Future. She argues for a worldwide ban on the use of facial recognition technology in public spaces and points to China, among other things, where that technology is used to oppress minorities.
Clearview itself is under the magnifying glass in various countries. In the US, lawsuits are pending against the company, while the use of photos without people’s express consent has already been declared illegal in Canada, Britain, France, Australia and Italy. Earlier this month, the Italian privacy watchdog Clearview imposed a fine of 20 million euros. The way in which Clearview collects data is contrary to European privacy legislation.
What about Clearview in the Netherlands?
There is no doubt that there are also Dutch people with their faces and associated data in the Clearview database: Clearview scrapes as much social media as possible in search of material. But, unlike in Italy, for example, the privacy watchdog has not yet made a statement about Clearview. This to surprise from civil rights organization Bits of Freedom: ‘Although the Dutch Data Protection Authority speaks out against the unlawful use of facial recognition technology and calls for a ban on this technology, it remains scrupulously silent about Clearview AI.’
The Dutch police have always denied being a Clearview customer, although the American news site Buzzfeed revealed last year that the police used it fifty to a hundred times.