Clearview AI inks deal with ICE

AI provides a search engine tool based on a database of billions of photos scraped from Internet-based public sources. The recent contract signed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of worth $224,000 has been spent on New York-based Clearview licenses by the US immigration and customs department.

The post announcement by the tech giants including IBM, Microsoft, and Amazon have pledged to stop selling facial recognition software to law enforcement agencies due to privacy and surveillance concerns. The contract comes after months of scrutiny of Clearview’s privacy practices.

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has signed a contract with Clearview AI to give Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) access to the controversial facial recognition firm's technology. Clearview AI claims the service is only for "identifying perpetrators and victims of crimes" and had been used to track down "hundreds" of criminals.

ICE is known to use facial recognition technology and the $224,000 purchase order, signed on August 12, 2020, is for "Clearview licenses" relating to "information technology components," but no further information has been made public. The contract will last until September 4, 2021. With this the ICE has leaned on machine learning and facial recognition systems. Both the FBI and ICE have used state DMV records as a "goldmine" in the search for undocumented immigrants.

Combining facial recognition searches with ICE, a DHS department already surrounded by controversy due to its detention centers, practices concerning child containment, and now 17 detainee deaths this year, could be an explosive combination.

The USP of Clearview is defined in. such a manner, AI is not a surveillance system and is not built like one, the company says. "For example, analysts upload images from crime scenes and compare them to publicly available images.

Clearview AI CEO Hoan Ton-That told in the email , that the technology is used by Homeland Security's Child Exploitation Investigations( HIS), uses our technology for their Child Exploitation Unit and ongoing criminal investigations , with this it can rescue children across the country from sexual abuse and exploitation.

While not available to the public, regulators and privacy advocates alike have raised concerns that Clearview AI's tool crosses ethical lines.

Technology companies including Google, Microsoft, and Facebook have also sent cease-and-desist letters to the company, demanding that Clearview AI stops scraping images from their platforms and services.

The security incident exposed Clearview AI's client list, the majority of which are law enforcement agencies across the United States. Customer names, accounts, and the number of searches clients have made were leaked.