Australian Regulators Crack Down on Clearview AI Citing Breach of Privacy Laws

The intersection of technology and law enforcement has always been a bit of a touchy subject because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up doing both harm as well as good. Clearview AI is well known, and some would say notorious, for allowing law enforcement agencies to look through its database of facial images in order to apprehend a culprit that they might be looking for, and it seems that Australian regulators agree with those that are saying that this is a violation of privacy with all things having been considered and taken into account.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Clearview AI will no longer be able to utilize pictures of Australians, and they will have to take down all of the images of Australians that they already have on their databases. While the company’s lawyer is trying to get this decision reviewed, it is more or less in line with how people tend to perceive the company and the often sinister image it has for being an almost dystopian example of how technology can be used for all kinds of purposes.

The thing about Clearview AI is that it scans the web for pictures and all law enforcement has to do is put in an image for the algorithm to compare to. This means that the people whose images are being used are not being asked for their consent, thereby making this a privacy violation in the eyes of a great many individuals. People should be notified if their images are being included in some kind of a database, and this sets a dangerous precedent for the future due to the reason that companies like this can end up committing even worse privacy violations later on.

Creator: dem10 | Credit: Getty Images

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