ICE Contracts Use of Clearview’s Controversial Biometric Tech

Amid a torrent of criticism and controversy, biometric surveillance specialist Clearview AI has found at least one big new customer: the company’s facial recognition technology has been contracted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Details about the contract are scant, with the tech transparency nonprofit Tech Inquiry having initially discovered the $224,000 purchase of Clearview licenses through a Dallas-based “mission support” office. In an emailed statement to The Verge, Clearview AI CEO Hoan Ton-That explained that the contract is specifically with ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations division.

Clearview’s platform is essentially designed to scrape the web for face images, and to apply facial recognition to its extensive database. It has come under fire from privacy advocates and other groups, with its trawling of social media pages having proven to be particularly controversial.

Facebook, Twitter, Google, and others have issued cease and desist letters to Clearview AI, and the organization is facing multiple lawsuits and official investigations over its practices. It has ceased commercial operations entirely in Canada in a bid to avoid legal scrutiny.

This volatile atmosphere has evidently not daunted ICE, nor did it dissuade the US Air Force from signing a $50,000 contract with Clearview AI in December of 2019.

ICE, a division of the Department of Homeland Security, already has access to DHS biometric databases including the Automated Biometric Identification System as well as Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology. Presumably, the Clearview agreement will further broaden ICE’s access to biometric data, possibly extending its reach to information attached to social media accounts, though the legal challenges against Clearview AI may complicate such activities.

Sources: The Verge, Engadget

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August 17, 2020 – by Alex Perala