Earlier this year, the state of Illinois filed a class action lawsuit against Google over Google Photos’ privacy concerns. The company settled, and it was to pay a total of $100 million to anyone who used the app. And if you lived in Illinois between 2015 and 2022, hurry up: you only have a few days left to apply for your cut of the payout.
Google pays $100 million after being sued over Google Photos facial recognition
Last month, Illinois filed a class action lawsuit against Google over privacy concerns. As the Google Photos app uses facial recognition, plaintiffs alleged that the company broke Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). However, the company has settled, and it will now have to pay a total of $100 million to the app users.
France orders Clearview AI to delete the selfie data it gathered
Clearview AI came under fire for scraping billions of selfies off the Internet to sell facial recognition services to law enforcement. France’s privacy watchdog said that the company has breached Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and France has now ordered Clearview AI to delete its database.
Scottish Isle using facial recognition software to track puffins
If I were to say ‘facial recognition software’ to you, you’d be forgiven for immediately thinking about social media companies, governments keeping tabs on their citizens, and general Big-Brother-esque scenarios. But this is a story of a slightly more unusual use of the AI: counting not sheep, but puffins.
Google now finds your pet’s lookalike among works of art
After finding your lookalikes among artworks, now it’s your pet’s turn. Google Arts & Culture now presents Pet Portraits, an AI tool that lets you find your pet’s doppelgänger among paintings. And yes, it’s as fun as it sounds.
Clearview AI under fire for “breaking privacy laws”
Ever since it appeared, Clearview AI has been surrounded by controversy. Privacy groups in Europe recently accused it of breaking privacy laws, and groups from several countries have even taken legal action against the company.
Capitol riot found and arrested thanks to his girlfriend’s Instagram and facial recognition
The attack on the US Capitol happened on 6 January, but photos, videos, and news are still surfacing. Over 400 people have been arrested so far, but at least one of the suspects was caught thanks to Instagram. The FBI used photos and videos from his girlfriend’s Instagram and identified the man with some help of facial recognition.
This free selfie-scrambling app protects you from facial recognition but still looks like you
Facial recognition can be used for good causes, but very often it’s not. You can bypass it by wearing masks or using lasers, but there’s now a way subtler tactics. A team of researchers from the University of Chicago has created Fawkes, the system that confuses facial recognition while still making you look as you. So if you’re concerned about facial recognition software scraping your public photos, Fawkes is free for you to download and use.
Privacy Nightmare: This site will show you “all the photos” of anyone on the web
Facial recognition technology has been causing quite a stir for a while now. While some are paranoid about it, others find it to be useful, life changing even. Well, now there’s a new website to be either paranoid or thrilled about. PimEyes allows you to upload just one photo of a person, and it will analyze the internet to see where else this person’s photos have been published.
Are your social media photos ending up in a law enforcement database?
Facial recognition is an incredibly useful consumer tool for organizing our burgeoning photo albums. Companies like Google and Apple have slowly integrated machine learning algorithms into their consumer photo products, which allow you to search by keywords without the need for manual tagging, or to simply click on a face to see more photos of that person.
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