Clearview is a secretive app that is scraping images from Facebook, YouTube, Venmo, and more, and uses facial recognition to identify people – and hundreds of law enforcement agencies across the U.S. are using it. Can you take action to stop it?

January 27, 2020January 27, 2020 Q Comments Off

REGULATION IS NOT ENOUGH

Like nuclear or biological weapons, facial recognition poses a threat to human society and basic liberty that far outweighs any potential benefits. Silicon Valley lobbyists are disingenuously calling for light “regulation” of facial recognition so they can continue to profit by rapidly spreading this surveillance dragnet. They’re trying to avoid the real debate: whether technology this dangerous should even exist. Industry-friendly and government-friendly oversight will not fix the dangers inherent in law enforcement’s use of facial recognition: we need an all-out ban.

IT’S BROKEN

Facial recognition surveillance programs identify the wrong person up to 98% of the time. These errors have real-world impacts, including harassment, wrongful imprisonment, and deportation.

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IT’S INVASIVE

Law enforcement officers frequently search facial recognition databases without warrants—or even reasonable suspicion that you’ve done anything wrong. This violates the Fourth Amendment … and our basic human rights.

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IT’S UNJUST

Facial recognition software programmatically misidentifies people of color, women, and children —supercharging discrimination and putting vulnerable people at greater risk of systemic abuse.

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IT’S VULNERABLE

Once our biometric information is collected and stored in government databases, it’s an easy target for identity thieves or state-sponsored hackers. Successful attacks have already happened, and will only grow more commonplace as government surveillance expands.

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IT’S DANGEROUS

Police officers across the United States routinely abuse confidential databases to spy on exes, business partners, neighbors, and journalists.

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IT THREATENS OUR FUTURE

Facial recognition is unlike any other form of surveillance. It enables automated and ubiquitous monitoring of an entire population, and it is nearly impossible to avoid. If we don’t stop it from spreading, it will be used not to keep us safe, but to control and oppress us—just as it is already being used in authoritarian states.

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WHERE IS FACIAL RECOGNITION HAPPENING?

Facial recognition software is already being used across America. Thankfully, laws are being proposed and passed to stop the spread of this dangerous technology. Click on the map below to see what’s happening near you, and to learn how you can help this important cause.

Last week, a New York Times article exposed a new app called Clearview: a secretive facial recognition program that scrapes images from Facebook, YouTube, Venmo and other sites. Already it has more than 3 billion images, and it’s already being used by more than 600 law enforcement agencies across the country.¹

This app goes beyond what government agencies or Silicon Valley giants have been willing to create, and it is exactly why we must ban government and law enforcement use of facial recognition immediately.

Sign the petition: Ban facial recognition now!

TAKE ACTION

After the story broke, more information about Clearview started to emerge, including that rogue New York Police Department cops are using the app, even though their own facial recognition unit isn’t using it (due to security concerns).²

The functionality of this app is an abuse of power, since it allows police to use it on people who haven’t committed and aren’t suspects in a crime.

While the app isn’t publicly available yet, it’s only a matter of time before Clearview (or a similar program) is accessible to everyone. And then, anyone walking down the street can snap a picture of you, run it through the program, and know who you are and personal details that they could use to stalk and harm you.

We need to ban facial recognition in order to stop apps like Clearview from putting our privacy and safety in danger.

Right now, there are no federal laws governing facial recognition, so this technology isn’t illegal. And unless we stop it, it’s going to grow and spread.

That’s why we’re attacking facial recognition from many angles—pushing for federal, state, and local bans, and fighting its presence in schools, music festivals, and more.

Public outcry over Clearview has been swift, which means this is a big moment for us to make our demands heard. Already, the New Jersey Attorney General banned the state police from using Clearview.³

With a lot of public and political attention on this dangerous facial recognition app, we can show why facial recognition is too dangerous, and must be banned. Take a minute to sign the petition and demand a ban on facial recognition.

Together,

Caitlin at Fight for the Future

Footnotes:

1. New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/18/technology/clearview-privacy-facial-recognition.html

2. NY Post: https://nypost.com/2020/01/23/rogue-nypd-cops-are-using-sketchy-facial-recognition-app-clearview/

3. New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/24/technology/clearview-ai-new-jersey.html

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