Cops in NYPD Using AI Tool That Matches Suspects’ Photos to Social Media
Rogue NYPD officers are using facial recognition software that the department’s own facial recognition unit doesn’t want to touch because of concerns about security and potential for abuse.
The NYPD’s facial recognition unit kicked the tires on a controversial app, Clearview, which has scraped millions of photos from social media to help ID suspects. The department, though, ultimately passed on using it, with one department insider likening the program to “playing with fire.”
But that hasn’t stopped several dozen cops from outside the department’s facial recognition unit from using the app “to this day” — with the company claiming the last photo search was registered at 10:56 a.m. Thursday.
The department’s facial recognition unit took Clearview up on a complimentary 90-day trial, but restricted its use to non-investigatory testing, not police field work, because Clearview could not say who had access to images once they were loaded into its massive database, sources said.
By snapping a picture of someone and uploading it into the app, a user is provided with public-posted photos of that person in Clearview’s database, culled from millions of websites including Facebook, LinkedIn and even mobile pay system Venmo.
Read more at NY Post
