OkCupid shares users' facial details with Clarifai

Occurred: July 2019

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Dating site OkCupid shared personal photographs of its users without their consent with computer vision company Clarifai, prompting an outcry from civil rights and privacy advocates.

The New York Times alleged that in 2014 dating site OkCupid had provided Clarifai with personal photographs of its users to build its facial recognition technology, and that it had done so without the knowledge or consent of its users.Β 

The article also asserted that an OkCupid founder who was also a Clarifai investor had supplied the photographs.

The revelation resulted in an outcry from civil rights and privacy advocates, and a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigation into the deal.Β 

βž• February 2020. The incident resulted in a class action lawsuit accusing Clarifai of surreptitously violating the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) by failing to inform OKCupid users about the use of their pictures and getting their written consent.

βž• July 2022. Reuters reported that OkCupid owner Match.com had been actively styming the FTC's enquiries using a variety of legal manoeuvres.

System πŸ€–

Operator: Clarifai
Developer: Clarifai; Match Group/OkCupid

Country: USA

Sector: Media/entertainment/sports/arts

Purpose: Train facial recognition systems

Technology: Dataset; Computer vision; Facial recognition; Machine learning; Neural network
Issue: Accountability; Privacy; Transparency

Legal, regulatory πŸ‘©πŸΌβ€βš–οΈ

Page info
Type: Incident
Published: January 2023