{"id":89464,"date":"2021-12-23T13:51:25","date_gmt":"2021-12-23T18:51:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/?p=89464"},"modified":"2021-12-27T14:04:28","modified_gmt":"2021-12-27T19:04:28","slug":"toronto-police-used-clearview-ai-facial-recognition-software-in-84-investigations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/local\/gta\/toronto-police-used-clearview-ai-facial-recognition-software-in-84-investigations\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto police used Clearview AI facial recognition software in 84 investigations"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Toronto
Toronto police officers uploaded more than 2,800 photos to Clearview AI’s software to look for a match among the three billion images the U.S. company extracted from public websites, such as Facebook and Instagram, to build its database. (Ascannio\/Shutterstock )<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Toronto police used Clearview AI facial recognition software to try to identify suspects, victims and witnesses in 84 criminal investigations in the three and a half months officers utilized the controversial technology before their police chief found out and ordered them to stop.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The revelations are contained in an internal police document recently obtained by CBC News through an appeal of an access to information request.<\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

Between October 2019 and early February 2020, officers uploaded more than 2,800 photos to the U.S. company’s software to look for a match among the three billion images Clearview AI extracted from public websites,\u00a0such as\u00a0Facebook and Instagram, to build its database.<\/p>\n

Toronto police\u00a0first admitted\u00a0that some of its officers used Clearview AI in mid-February\u00a02020, one month after the service\u00a0denied using it. But until now, no details around how \u2014 and to what extent \u2014 officers used the facial recognition software have been released.<\/p>\n

The internal report shows how detectives from multiple units started to use a free trial of Clearview AI to advance criminal investigations without consulting anyone other than the company itself and internal supervisors about the legality and accuracy of the technology.<\/p>\n

“When you’re enforcing the law, your first obligation is to comply with it,” said Brenda McPhail, director of the privacy, technology and surveillance program at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA). “It really doesn’t seem like that was top of mind as the concept of this tool, as the examples of this tool, as the conversations about this tool circulated through the force.”<\/p>\n

\"Brenda
Brenda McPhail of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association says the police use of facial recognition technology as an investigative tool is a ‘slippery slope’ when it comes to privacy. (Submitted by Brenda McPhail)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to the report, detectives using the technology only met with Crown attorneys about Clearview AI after a New York Times investigation in January 2020 revealed details of how the company compiled its database and its use by more than 600 law enforcement agencies in Canada, the United States and elsewhere. Soon after,\u00a0then-Toronto police chief Mark Saunders was informed that his officers were using the software and ordered them to stop on Feb. 5.<\/p>\n

Since then, four Canadian privacy commissioners have determined that Clearview AI conducted\u00a0mass surveillance and broke Canadian privacy laws\u00a0by collecting photos of Canadians without their knowledge or consent.<\/p>\n

Criminal cases could be in jeopardy<\/h2>\n

Given those findings, the co-chair of the Criminal Lawyers’ Association’s\u00a0criminal law and technology committee says the police service’s lack of due diligence before using Clearview AI could put cases where it was used\u00a0at risk.<\/p>\n

“If police violated the law as part of their investigations, this could make those investigations vulnerable to charter challenges,” said Eric Neubauer, a Toronto lawyer.<\/p>\n

“We have the right in Canada to be free from unreasonable search and seizure \u2014 one could conceivably see an argument being brought in court that this was a fairly profound violation of that right.”<\/p>\n

\"Mark
When he was Toronto police chief, Mark Saunders found out his officers were using Clearview AI and ordered them to stop utilizing it on Feb. 5, 2020. (Michael Wilson\/CBC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So far, Neubauer and McPhail say they haven’t seen a Canadian example of the software’s use face legal scrutiny in court. That said, there were already two Toronto cases before the courts based at least in part on evidence that officers generated through the use of Clearview AI in March 2020, according to the report.<\/p>\n

Of the 84 criminal investigations where searches were completed, the report says that 25 were advanced through Clearview AI, with investigators identifying or confirming the whereabouts of four suspects, 12 victims and two witnesses.<\/p>\n

No plans to use Clearview AI: Toronto police<\/h2>\n

In a statement, Toronto police spokesperson Connie Osborne told CBC News that the service has no plans to use Clearview AI again.<\/p>\n

“The Toronto Police Services Board is currently developing a policy for the use of artificial intelligence technology and machine learning following public consultation,” Osborne said.<\/p>\n

“The service is also developing a robust procedure for the adoption of new technology to ensure governance of procurement and any potential use is compliant with the relevant laws, including privacy requirements.”<\/p>\n

The proposed AI technology policy would establish five risk-based categories for technology ranging from minimal to extreme risk. “A facial recognition software with illegally sourced data that could result in mass surveillance” is listed as an example of extreme risk technology\u00a0on the board’s public consultation web page<\/a> \u2014 which would not be allowed for use under the proposed police policy.<\/p>\n

\"AI-Milenio
Toronto police attended a conference in October 2019 in the Netherlands, where one detective was introduced to Clearview AI through a showcase put on by the FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, according to the service’s internal report. (Thomas Peter\/Reuters)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Detective introduced to Clearview AI at conference<\/h2>\n

According to the report obtained by CBC News, Toronto police were first introduced to Clearview AI at a victim identification conference in the Netherlands in October 2019.<\/p>\n

While there, a detective attended an FBI and U.S. Department of\u00a0Homeland Security showcase of the technology as an investigative tool in identifying exploited children online \u2014 and also used Clearview AI in connection with real child exploitation investigations.<\/p>\n

Within days of returning to Toronto, the service obtained a free trial of Clearview AI. By the end of October, investigators from both the child exploitation and intelligence services were using the technology. By mid-December 2019, an internal showcase of Clearview AI was held for roughly 100 investigators from sex crimes, homicide and financial crimes units.<\/p>\n

In the report, the details are redacted for all but one investigation where officers used Clearview AI:\u00a0the\u00a0third homicide of 2020 was advanced through the use of the technology and an arrest was made. Although the report doesn’t specify,\u00a0it was the suspect who was identified through the software.<\/p>\n

\"Firefighters-Milenio
Firefighters found Maryna Kudzianiuk with serious injuries while responding to a fire at this highrise building in Toronto in January 2020. Police ruled her death a homicide after she died in hospital. (Jeremy Cohn\/CBC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Toronto police confirmed with CBC News that the victim in that case was Maryna Kudzianiuk. The 49-year-old died in hospital after firefighters found her while responding to a Scarborough highrise fire in January\u00a02020.<\/p>\n

After an autopsy, police ruled her death a homicide, and about a week later\u00a0a man was arrested and charged with first-degree murder.<\/p>\n

‘A slippery slope’<\/h2>\n

While examples like that might show the benefits of the technology to help solve \u2014 or stop \u2014 the most serious crimes, the CCLA’s McPhail says that “it’s such a slippery slope.”<\/p>\n

She told CBC News that child exploitation is often used to legitimize invasive technology, such as\u00a0that sold\u00a0by Clearview AI, by claiming “one is too many,” without focusing on all of the images of children scooped up non-consensually.<\/p>\n

“The faces of our kids \u2014 if we’ve put up their photo on Facebook for Grandma \u2014 end up in a police lineup that can be searched by police in Canada, by police in the U.S., by police in Europe,” McPhail said. “What is the risk to all of the children proportionate to the benefit to the few children?”<\/p>\n

McPhail and Neubauer also raised concerns about the accuracy of Clearview AI’s software.<\/p>\n

“This technology has been found to have higher incidences of false positives or misidentifications for faces of people of colour,” Neubauer said. “This means more investigations, potentially detentions and arrests of individuals in marginalized groups who already face disproportionate levels of arrest, investigation and detention.”<\/p>\n

Given those issues, the Toronto lawyer stresses the importance of studying emerging technologies before using them in real cases going forward.<\/p>\n

“These tools used by law enforcement must be subject to public and legal scrutiny and oversight,” he said. “That means full transparency as to when it’s being used and also how it works.”<\/p>\n

Provincial watchdogs issue order to delete photos<\/h2>\n

Clearview AI left the Canadian market\u00a0in the summer of 2020. But concerns around the images the company has collected remain.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, the provincial privacy watchdogs for British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec\u00a0ordered Clearview AI to delete images and biometric data\u00a0collected without permission.<\/p>\n

Clearview AI previously told the B.C. privacy commissioner that it was “simply not possible” for the company to identify whether individuals in photos were in Canada at the time the image was taken or whether they were Canadian citizens or residents.<\/p>\n

The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario says it doesn’t have jurisdiction over private companies such as Clearview AI \u2014 the way privacy watchdogs do in B.C., Alberta and Quebec \u2014 because Ontario doesn’t have a private-sector privacy law.<\/p>\n

But Ontario’s privacy commissioner is working with its federal and provincial counterparts to develop guidance on the use of facial recognition technologies by police, which the office says will be released next year.<\/p>\n

CBC<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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