Under the terms of a settlement filed on Monday in federal court, Clearview AI, the controversial facial-recognition software company, will now be barred from selling its software to most companies in the United States.
Clearview AI became controversial in January 2020 for secretly scraping billions of photos from social media sites.
The settlement, in particular, applies only to most private companies. It still allows sales to law enforcement except in the state of Illinois, where Clearview AI is prohibited for five years from selling its software.
ACLU Filed Lawsuit on Behalf of the Vulnerable Communities
The settlement is a result of a lawsuit in which the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) was the plaintiff. The suit, according to the organization, was filed on behalf of "vulnerable communities uniquely harmed by face recognition surveillance" such as "survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, undocumented immigrants, [and] current and former sex workers," as per the report of Mashable.
In collecting people's photos from the internet, Clear AI allegedly violated the 2008 Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). According to Mashable, the act explicitly requires companies to get consent from people before collecting or using their biometric information.
According to CNN, Illinois is one of just a few states in the U.S. that have such biometric privacy laws.
In a statement cited by CNN, Hoan Ton-That, CEO of Clearview AI, said: "Clearview AI's posture regarding sales to private entities remains unchanged. We would only sell to private entities in a manner that complies with BIPA. Our database is only provided to government agencies for the purpose of solving crimes."
In May 2020, Clearview AI claimed that it would stop working with private companies. Businesses like Coinbase affirmed that they had worked with the tech previously.
Read Also: Yahoo, ACLU Press US Government Declassify Secret Surveillance Orders
Fight With Clearview AI Is Not Yet Over
Monday's settlement was hailed by organizations advocating on behalf of people's digital privacy. However, it still needs to be approved by the court.
The settlement with Clearview AI is not yet over. In a statement, Albert Fox Cahn, the executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, stated that Monday's limited ban is only the first step of many, according to Mashable.
"This is a milestone for civil rights, and the ACLU deserves our thanks for once again safeguarding our Constitution," Cahn wrote.
Cahn added that banning Clearview AI in one state is not enough as we need a national ban to protect civil rights.
Clearview AI remains free to sell facial recognition technology to police departments across most of the county. However, the police don't exactly have a clean record when it comes to misusing such technology.
Across the country, facial-recognition software has become increasingly common in the past several years. However, it has also been blasted by privacy and digital rights groups over privacy issues and other real and potential dangers, according to CNN.
Since it was founded in 2017, Clearview AI has compiled billions of photos into a database for its software. CNN reported that the company has claimed to have scraped over 20 billion photos from the internet, including photos from popular social media platforms, news websites, websites of mugshots, and more.
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