RCMP violated privacy using Clearview AI facial recognition
Occurred: June 2021
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The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) was found guilty of breaking the law by using facial recognition to collect the personal information of Canadians without their knowledge or consent.
Canada's privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien said the RCMP was guilty of 'serious and systemic failings' in its information gathering operations using controversial facial monitoring company Clearview AI.
Clearview AI uses artificial intelligence to match people’s images against a database of billions of photos scraped from the internet, including social media sites.
In July 2020, during the investigation AI into whether Clearview’s AI technology breaks Canadian privacy laws, Clearview AI said it would pull out of Canada and stop working with the RCMP.
Similar to other police forces across Canada, the RCMP had previously publicly stated it was not using Clearview AI, only to later confirm that officers had used trial versions of the system without the knowledge or authorisation of police leadership.
Operator: Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)
Developer: Clearview AI
Country: Canada
Sector: Govt - police
Purpose: Strengthen law enforcement
Technology: Facial recognition
Issue: Privacy; Surveillance
Transparency: Governance; Privacy; Marketing
System
Legal, regulatory
Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (2022). Letter to the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics on their Study of the Use and Impact of Facial Recognition Technology
Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (2021). RCMP’s use of Clearview AI’s facial recognition technology violated Privacy Act, investigation concludes
Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (2020). Clearview AI ceases offering its facial recognition technology in Canada
News, commentary, analysis
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/rcmp-clearview-ai-1.6060228
https://globalnews.ca/news/7937654/rcmp-clearview-ai-facial-recognition-canada/
https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/clearview-ai-rcmp-role_ca_6022e414c5b6d78d444a78ae
https://thetyee.ca/News/2020/01/22/RCMP-Wont-Say-Massive-Facial-Recognition-Database/
Page info
Type: Incident
Published: October 2021
Last updated: January 2023