A startup called Clearview AI has made it possible for anyone to find out your name through only one snapshot. The app is currently being used by hundreds of law enforcement agencies in the US, including the FBI, says a report in The New York Times. The app works by comparing a photo to a database of more than 3 billion pictures that Clearview says it’s scraped off Facebook, Venmo, YouTube and other sites. It then serves up matches, along with links to the sites where those database photos originally appeared. A name might easily be unearthed, and from there other info could be dug up online. The size of the Clearview database dwarfs others in use by law enforcement. The FBI’s own database, which taps passport and driver’s license photos, is one of the largest, with over 641 million images of US citizens. The Clearview app isn’t currently available to the public, but the Times says police officers and Clearview investors think it will be in the future. Law enforcement officers say they’ve used the app to solve crimes from shoplifting to child sexual exploitation to murder. But privacy advocates warn that the app could return false matches to police and that it could also be used by stalkers and others. They’ve also warned that facial recognition technologies in general could be used to conduct mass surveillance.
Are apps like Clearview violating the privacy of the people?
Facebook had come under fire for using the information of it’s users, however, its not the only Facebook now. Apps like clearview are being used by governments. But don’t you think this constant surveillance by the government is a violation of the citizen’s privacy? Let us know in the comments down below.