Clearview AI

NYT reporter Kashmir Hill- NPR broadcast on Clearview AI 

https://www.npr.org/2023/09/28/1202310781/exposing-the-secretive-company-at-the-forefront-of-facial-recognition-technology

Clearview AI. 30 billion photos in their database. Yours and mine included.

Shouldn't we consider this identity theft? After all, I never gave permission for them to use my face. I'm not sure why they would want it. I don't even like it. They must be really desperate. With luck it'll crash the program. Maybe I can help save the planet just with my face.

Clearview AI seems to be a non-existent company with one employee, no office, a wrong address leading to a non-existent building who has given away years of programming technology for free to government and private companies. Homeland Security, the FBI, police departments are all currently using it. With no government oversight? Google and Facebook both developed facial recognition software but didn't release it because ".... it was unethical, potentially illegal." and yet all the above are using it without questions or concerns of its legality or ethics. Your existence has been turned into a profit center and is being sold, used and distributed all without your consent or any compensation. It also begs the question of how government agencies could use a software program from a "non existent" company.

Now what could possibly be wrong with this altruistic approach from Clearview AI? Retailers like Walmart, Target or any of the others are using it in-store to target ads tailored for your individual wants and pleasures and your money. And let's not forget cable TV, your cellphone and your computer cameras watching you and your family in your house. Shouldn't this be considered an invasion of privacy? But according to the NYT reporter it's really not a bad thing. You might get locked up for a week or two when it makes a mistake but they're working hard to improve it she says. Like the trigger happy police, IT just needs more training. It could be used for bad things against the people she admits, but our government would never do anything like that. Or corporations. Or banks. Or criminal individuals. It's really hard to imagine any of them doing anything nefarious. They're only looking out for our welfare and taking good care of us because they are smarter and know what our needs are. Our benevolent masters. After all it's a free society. Isn't it?

For some reason the RealID that the federal government has forced upon us wasn't even mentioned. Your photo goes to a federal database. What is the purpose of the RealID? Homeland Security? Instead of being presumed innocent we're now being considered potentially guilty. Edward Snowden found out the consequences for revealing what was happening. "It's all about control", he said. He lost his citizenship over reporting unconstitutional government actions. 

We should all resent that according to the government we're potential criminals who deserves to be placed in their database. On the other hand, with the number of laws on the books we're probably all criminals for infraction of some "law". We're going to have to really expand the Court system and prison system to accommodate all the new criminals. Privatized of course, but built with taxpayer money. Maybe it'll help solve the housing crisis. Socialized housing of a sort. With a strong prison labor force to help keep prices down for the consumer. A win-win situation.

Excluding, of course the ultra wealthy or politicians while they flaunt their criminal behavior without consequence.

If your political views are not “politically correct" your bank account can "accidentally" disappear. Your credit rating. Your paycheck. Welfare check. Food stamps. House title. Passport. Your identity even. You can be made into a persona non grata in an instant. And then it's up to you to prove who you are which can take months or years, if you can afford hiring attorneys. Good luck with that. The colonists started a revolution over the tyranny of a tea tax. The tyranny now is your very existence.

What is being monitored?

Your cellphone is tracking your movements 24 hours a day. Your voice is being recorded for voice recognition which is as reliable as fingerprints. Your face is being recorded by your phone, computer and television. What's next, shower heads? Your vehicle is tracking your movements. Your purchases. Your friends. Your religious beliefs. How you are likely to vote. And it's possible that electronic voting machines have a camera incorporated into them to record how you vote. And now the cries from our government that our democracy is under attack and may be lost- from both parties. So do you trust your government? Do you believe we have a democracy? Would you be offended if you were required to be finger printed to obtain an ID? Facial printing and voice printing are far superior to finger prints and it's being done without your consent and used against you. Are the people "secure in their persons,houses papers and effects...." (Article IV of the Bill Of Rights) anymore? It's not hard to imagine robots wandering the streets looking for criminals. How many people ever thought their TV or computer would be watching them in their home with no idea of who is watching? George Orwell? The surveillance society he foresaw has been surpassed. What it all adds up to is cooperation between government and corporations for control of the people. Corporations benefit by increased sales and government benefits from control and taxes. The only conclusion can be is the government is controlled by corporate interests- a plutocracy or oligarchy.

And keep in mind that this is not isolated to the US, it's a worldwide issue. Americans however, seem to be willing to give up their privacy without complaint.

Are the simple lies we are being told "We have a free society","We have a democracy" and"We have a constitution" sufficient to keep citizens believing that these are truths in the face of all the evidence against it? At what point will we realize it's all a lie?