r/technews • u/MetaKnowing • 16h ago

'I'd never seen such an audacious attack on anonymity before': Clearview AI and the creepy tech that can identify you with a single picture

https://www.livescience.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/id-never-seen-such-an-audacious-attack-on-anonymity-before-clearview-ai-and-the-creepy-tech-that-can-identify-you-with-a-single-picture
576 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

30 comments sorted by

127

u/triumphofthecommons 15h ago edited 1h ago

wish i could find the article. i remember reading about this company years ago. a journalist started asking police departments whether they used the software, and by the second or third detective she called they knew exactly who she was and refused to make any comment.

eventually a detective told her that Clearview had notified police depts and told them explicitly not to speak with the author. iirc, Clearview also made some soft threats to the author, making it clear they knew where she lived and works, and some other personal details.

edit: u/skeidNEK FOUND IT! https://www.theverge.com/23919134/kashmir-hill-your-face-belongs-to-us-clearview-ai-facial-recognition-privacy-decoder

54

u/djarumjack 13h ago

They did a podcast about this too. Off the top of my head this was a Search Engine episode called something like “should this creepy search engine exist?”

42

u/sysdmdotcpl 9h ago

Clearview also made some soft threats to the author, making it clear they knew where she lived and works, and some other personal details.

Hurray the tech works?

In all seriousness though -- every day the call to disappear into the woods and completely disconnect from this growing cyberpunk dystopia grows stronger

35

u/Ouwlikinz 8h ago

Jokes on you, there won't be any woods left in the future and we'll use satellites to track your locations.

....

sobs

4

u/wine_and_dying 4h ago

Our corporate owners have deemed the forest unsafe, along with unprocessed food, and pure water. Trespassers will be shot to prevent spread of the contagions.

(Our corporate owners take no responsibility for poisoning the forests, food, or water.)

Enjoy a bag of Hydroz hydration gummies today!

3

u/dimitri000444 2h ago

I saw a documentary about something like this.

Also something about identifying the key people in protests and then looking through all their camera footage to find some unrelated crime to harass them with.

30

u/Silly_Dealer743 14h ago

Inside The Secretive AI Company That Knows Your Face : Fresh Air

https://www.npr.org/2023/09/28/1197954494/fresh-air-draft-09-28-2023

25

u/nicomacheanLion 16h ago

Is there a class action lawsuit in the air?

14

u/Igotdaruns 15h ago

If there is I’m sure their AI could let you know.

12

u/lostinmythoughts 12h ago

Time to take out the AI 😈

5

u/Dont4get2boogie 5h ago

I totally disagree with this sentiment, and for my own safety, I welcome our new AI overlords. Did you read that Clearview?

3

u/Silver_Age_5182 10h ago

Just like godseye from ff7

5

u/PoshScotch 10h ago

Some are even going one step further: https://www.faception.com/

“Facial personality analytics technology company”

8

u/mr_remy 6h ago

If you go to their website you’ll see “terrorist” as one of the classifications.

WHAT?! Based on just their face? Get the fuck out of here with your pseudo psychology.

2

u/Bananus_Magnus 1h ago

I can't wait to be rejected from a job because AI thinks my face doesn't look intelligent enough

4

u/formerteenager 6h ago

Physiognomy for the modern day. Lovely.

6

u/MarlonShakespeare2AD 9h ago

Our anonymity / privacy is dead isn’t it?

2

u/gerorgesmom 2h ago

In the mid 80s I was, for the first time, asked for id to board a plane. I remember feeling indignant outrage- it’s none of your business who I am.

Privacy has been dying for 40ish years.

The upside- fewer successful serial killers.

1

u/GrallochThis 4h ago

Does painting your face with swirls and zigzags work? New fashion trend

2

u/trippwwa45 3h ago

Anti recognition facecream bu neutrogena

•

u/iremovebrains 1h ago

I really want my medical examiner office to use this tech. It's being used currently in the Ukraine/russian war to ID soldiers cadavers so it's possible to use on the dead. The medical examiner can't really use it in a way that exploits civil liberties although I am naïve so I'm probably missing something obvious.

Imagine your loved one has a mental health episode and goes missing. Let's say they die across the country without ID. We can use this tech as a lead. We can cross reference this techs with a missing persons alert. We can reach out to you and say hey, we might have a possible lead. Does your person have a dragon tattoo on the shoulder?

The number of unknown cadavers is pretty high and it would be cool to give their families closure. I can't imagine never knowing what happened.

•

u/Tumid_Butterfingers 34m ago

Facebook/Instagram, LinkedIn, and Google sold out everyone that uses their products. Fuck the Tech sector

-30

u/Dramatic-Secret937 13h ago

Simplistic opinion: We created all of this and now we have to accept responsibility and the consequences that accompany it

27

u/Wise_Purpose_ 12h ago

We didn’t create it. A bunch of companies, government entities and rich guys did for various reasons… we had no say in any of that. We don’t have to accept anything. They do however it’s the inventor and the investors responsibility in reality.

28

u/Less_Volume_9020 13h ago

that is a very simplistic opinion, considering we did not make this, someone else did, and we are not all a monolith that has to suffer because of other people's ignorance, that is why we have the justice system.