Illinois: court could force shutdown order on Clearview AI

Illinois: court could force shutdown order on Clearview AI

Washington, 5/4/2021

A recent statement from Clearview’s corporate – lawyers said the Illinois Court is seeking to block the facial recognition technology in the U.S. in an „unprecedented“ effort.

Clearview AI crawls public websites to collect photos for its facial recognition database, which is the largest in the US. The company creates „facial prints“ from the photos for biometric matching and sells its services to law enforcement agencies to identify potential suspects.

In April, a lawsuit was filed against Clearview that said a preliminary injunction would prevent the company from collecting biometric data from Illinois residents without their consent.

Illionois was the first state to enact a law known as the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), which prohibits the collection of facial recognition images and other data without an individual’s consent.

Clearview has taken a stand on the lawsuit, acknowledging that it could have nationwide consequences for its services.

Earlier this year, civil rights activists and civic groups had already sued Clearview AI in California. They are also seeking an injunction to stop the company’s data collection in that state and are demanding the permanent deletion of all data in its databases.

That lawsuit – filed by four individuals and community groups NorCal Resist and Mijente – claims Clearview’s practices violate people’s privacy, as well as stifle political speech and activity.