The Minneapolis city council has passed a resolution banning facial recognition technology as part of an effort to protect privacy and civil liberties. The ban follows similar moves in cities like Oakland, San Francisco, and Boston that have sought to curb the use of the controversial technology. The resolution calls for prohibiting government departments from using facial recognition technology on any individuals or groups in the city limits, with some exceptions to be made for law enforcement purposes. It also calls for the research and development of additional safeguards and systems that will provide similar protections from the technology. This move could have far-reaching implications not just for Minneapolis but other cities across the country as well. Read on to learn more about how this may impact tech companies like Clearview AI and Hatmaker TechCrunch, among others.
What is Clearview AI?
Clearview AI is a technology company that provides facial recognition software. The software is designed to work with law enforcement agencies to help identify individuals from digital images. The company has been controversial due to its use of data scraping, which has raised concerns about privacy and data security.
How does Clearview AI work?
Clearview AI is a facial recognition company that uses artificial intelligence to match photos of people with public records.
How does Clearview AI work?
Clearview AI’s technology works by taking a photo of a person and then searching for that person in its database of over three billion images. The company says it can find matches with “a high degree of accuracy.”
Clearview AI has been the subject of controversy because it has compiled its database without the consent of the people in the photos. The company has also sold its services to law enforcement agencies, which has raised privacy concerns.
What are the implications of using Clearview AI?
There are a number of implications to using Clearview AI, both positive and negative. On the positive side, the technology has the potential to revolutionize law enforcement’s ability to solve crimes and track down criminals. Additionally, it could be used to help identify missing persons or victims of human trafficking. On the negative side, there are concerns about privacy and civil liberties, as well as the possibility of misuse.
Clearview AI has already been used by a number of police departments across the country, with mixed results. In some cases, it has helped solve crimes that would otherwise have gone unsolved. However, there have also been reports of misuse, such as when officers used the tool to track down journalists who were critical of the police department.
Given the potential implications of using Clearview AI, it is important for cities and law enforcement agencies to weigh the pros and cons before deciding whether or not to use the technology.
The Minneapolis city council’s reaction to Clearview AI
The Minneapolis city council has unanimously voted to ban the use of Clearview AI by city departments. Clearview AI is a facial recognition company that has come under fire for collecting billions of images of people’s faces from social media and other websites without their consent.
Minneapolis councilmember Steve Fletcher said, “This technology is absolutely ripe for abuse, particularly by government agencies. I don’t want to live in a world where the government has that kind of information about all of us.”
Councilmember Cam Gordon added, “I have real concerns about any technology that can be used to identify me, or you, or anyone else without our knowledge or consent… We need to make sure that as a city we are not using any technology that will violate our residents’ privacy rights.”
The vote bans the use of Clearview AI by all city departments, including the police department. It also calls on the state legislature to pass a law banning the use of facial recognition technology by all public and private entities.
What other cities are using Clearview AI?
In addition to Minneapolis, a number of other major cities are using or considering using Clearview AI’s facial recognition technology. New York City, for example, has been using Clearview AI to help investigate crimes since 2019. The NYPD has used the technology to solve cases involving everything from murder and robbery to harassment and identity theft.
San Francisco is another city that is using Clearview AI’s technology. The SFPD began using the software in early 2020 in an effort to identify and apprehend suspects involved in serious crimes. So far, the department has had success in using the tool to investigate a number of cases, including homicide, burglary, and assault.
Chicago is also considering adopting Clearview AI’s facial recognition technology. The Chicago Police Department has been testing the software since 2019 and is currently evaluating its effectiveness. If the department decides to implement the tool, it would be used primarily for investigating serious crimes such as murder, rape, and robbery.
Conclusion
It’s clear that Minneapolis city council is taking a stand against Clearview AI and their facial recognition technology. With the ordinance prohibiting local government from using this technology, citizens can rest assured that their data will be protected in accordance with state laws. This move is a major step forward towards ensuring privacy rights for all residents of Minneapolis and will hopefully set an example for other cities to follow suit.
