FB pixel

Clearview wants U.S. judge to rethink her decision not to dismiss BIPA counts

Clearview wants U.S. judge to rethink her decision not to dismiss BIPA counts
 

Clearview AI executives are exploring increasingly niche arguments in hopes of keeping their photo-scraping business model alive.

The facial recognition subscription service, marketed in the United States to law enforcement, is mired in U.S. court cases (and many other venues around the world).

For the most part, U.S. plaintiffs say Clearview mined their social media accounts for face photos and then hijacked the image’s biometric identifiers.

Executives this week are trying to get U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman to dismiss multiple counts of alleged privacy piracy.

One argument goes like this: Clearview dumped all of its non-government subscribers about a year ago. That would make the firm a government contractor, which would limit its exposure to some legal actions.

At the time, it seemed that executives wanted to limit their market to appear more focused on altruistic operations aiding police seeking lost adults and trafficked children.

But significantly, viewed as a government contractor, Clearview is not covered by Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act, according to reporting by MediaPost.

That law requires businesses acquiring biometric identifiers to get express consent from individuals and other provisions. Fines for violating BIPA are moderate but they can be levied on every single collection.

Executives also want to be freed from accusations that it has violated similar laws in three other states.

A Law Street Media article discusses several other objections that Clearview has raised in class actions that it faces.

One rebuttal, if accepted by Judge Coleman, would overturn a fundamental plank on which BIPA stands — that the non-consensual taking of someone’s biometric data is as real a harm as taking someone’s physical property.

Clearview has had a key patent published a year ago granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Organization last month.

Article Topics

 |   |   |   |   |   |   | 

Latest Biometrics News

 

Tech5 to provide decentralized DPI for Honduras

Having acquired patent protection for its decentralized system for digital identity issuance and verification, Swiss biometrics provider Tech5 has scored…

 

Xperix to reveal ultra-compact FAP 60 biometric scanner at ID4Africa 2025

Xperix is expanding its portfolio of fingerprint biometric scanners with the introduction of a new optical FAP 60 scanner the…

 

Sri Lanka to call tenders for MOSIP implementation

Tenders for implementation of MOSIP (Modular Open-Source Identity Platform), an open-source software system that will be used to create and…

 

Decentralized identity needs its iPod moment, identity veteran says

The message came from Charles Walton, principal at Agosti Group and former SVP of Identity at Avast and Mastercard. He,…

 

Thales driving digital inclusion, behind one in every three smart civil IDs

Thales is marking its dominant presence in digital identification with the company behind one in three civil IDs delivered each…

 

Clearview betting on political ties to grow federal contracts

When Hal Lambert, a Republican political financier with longstanding ties to conservative circles, was announced as co-CEO of Clearview AI…

Comments

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Market Analysis

Most Viewed This Week

Featured Company

Biometrics Insight, Opinion

Digital ID In-Depth

Biometrics White Papers

Biometrics Events