A lawyer for Clearview AI, a controversial face recognition startup, said that your face has no right to privacy in common law.
Clearview AI’s facial recognition system is used by more than 600 law enforcement agencies. A recent leak shows that the company’s customer list also includes best buy and Macy’s department store.
The system has been criticized for its method of collecting images on the Internet and storing them in a database. Privacy activists said the people in these photos never agreed.
Clearview AI lawyer Thor Ekland said in a recent interview: “the common law has never recognized your right to facial privacy.” This is a somewhat strange argument, because your face is the most public thing. “
This is a fair view, but it’s not reassuring to know that your face may be stored in a database without explicit permission. In addition, Clearview AI has a poor reputation as a user data custodian.
Many people criticized Clearview AI’s response to their recent data leaks – or lack of response. The only response was: “security is Clearview’s top priority. Unfortunately, data leakage is a part of life in the 21st century. Our servers have never been accessed. We have repaired this vulnerability and continue to work to strengthen our security. “
Ekland earned himself the reputation of “Troll’s lawyer”, a nickname given to his past clients by a wired magazine.
Among ekland’s first customers, Andrew Ornheimer, who claims to be a neo Nazist monster, downloaded 114000 e-mail addresses from an insecure public server. Ekland defended Ornheimer, criticizing the computer fraud and abuse act, saying it did not meet reasonable standards to define what was prohibited.
Ekland now expects that hackers who disclose Clearview AI customer information will be prosecuted by CFAA. 2020 believes that although individuals such as ornheimer and companies such as Clearview AI only access the information disclosed on the network, those who invade Clearview AI bypass security measures and access some information without permission.
In any case, Clearview AI has now attracted the attention of Congress.
In a letter to Hoan ton, CEO of Clearview, the chairman and senior members of the House Science Committee, space and technology wrote:
The The work of Clearview AI seems to be rarely supervised by the government, although the intended use of Clearview AI technology raises serious privacy problems. More worrisome is that the company has now become the target of a successful hacking operation.
Post time: Jul-26-2021