Facial recognition company says it collected 30 billion social media images for police to use

HOUSTON - The next time police are trying to identify a crime suspect, they might put 'your' face in a line-up, to consider whether you're responsible.

New York facial-recognition company Clearview AI says it has collected 30 billion images from Facebook and other social media platforms to build its vast database of images that critics complain amount to a perpetual police line-up.

The company says its database has been used by police agencies nearly a million times to compare suspect images.

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On a warm afternoon in Houston's Herman Park, where people enjoyed the day while perusing and posting on social media, there was a bit of concern that some of those innocent posts might, also, be used to help identify a potential criminal.

"It seems like a degradation of privacy," says Tevon Varlack, "I wouldn't want to do that." Damain Jasso adds, "You choose the people that you follow, and you let follow you. I don't feel that would be right that police could use whatever they want, to see if that's you, or not."

Houston tech expert Juan Guevara Torres is not a fan, "What it means is they have multiple pictures of each one of us."

Despite assurances on Clearview's website that We cannot and do not search any private or protected information, including private social media accounts," the company's CEO acknowledged to the BBC that the company took photos without users' knowledge while insisting the images are publicly available.

For its part, Facebook issued a 'cease and desist' letter to Clearview in 2020, but critics argue the damage has been done and that social media platforms work harder to monetize our shared information, rather than protect it.

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"Privacy is not a crime; secrecy is not a crime," says Guevara Torres, "What is a crime, in my point of view, is to allow social media to allow your information to fly everywhere without you even knowing about it."

To be sure, social media 'terms of use' typically allow companies a fair amount of flexibility on how they can use shared content. Clearview AI says its facial-recognition software has been used by more than 3,100 U.S. agencies, including the FBI and Department of Homeland Security.

The Houston Police Department says it 'does not' use any facial recognition software, as an investigative tool.