RCMP says it won’t stop using Clearview AI altogether, will limit its use

The RCMP says that it will restrict its use of Clearview AI to limited and specific circumstances, as concerns around the controversial tech continue to grow.

It will continue to review the facial recognition technology and limit its usage, but won’t stop using it altogether.

“The RCMP will only use facial recognition technology, including Clearview AI, in exigent circumstances for victim identification in child sexual exploitation investigations, or in circumstances where threat to life or grievous bodily harm may be imminent,” the police force told the CBC.

The controversy surrounding Clearview AI mounted when a report from the New York Times revealed that numerous police services in North America were using it.

Following the report, the RCMP denied that it had used the facial recognition technology. However, a few weeks ago, the police force confirmed that it had been using Clearview AI for four months. It was being used by the child exploitation unit, and had led to the rescue of two children.

Clearview AI uses images scraped from social media and other websites to cross-reference uploaded images of people. The system reportedly has three billion photos on its database. It is able to find a person’s name, phone number, address and occupation, all from an image.

The technology is currently being investigated by the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, along with several provincial privacy commissioners.

Source: CBC News