Facial recognition startup Clearview AI has agreed to restrict the sale of its massive collection of face images to settle allegations that it collected people’s photos without their consent. The settlement was reached in a case alleging the company violated Illinois’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), considered the strongest data privacy law in the country.
The company in a legal filing Monday agreed to permanently stop selling access to its face database to private businesses or individuals around the US, putting a limit on what it can do with its ever-growing trove of billions of images pulled from social media and elsewhere on the internet.
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The settlement — which must be approved by a county judge in Chicago — will end a 2-year-old lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups over alleged violations of Illinois’ data privacy law.
Artificial Intelligence technology has been growing in importance in the Digital Economy, with future applications expected to affect a wide array of services. The technology’s large data requirements have made it a prime area of concern for privacy regulators worried over the potential misuse of consumer information.
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