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Comment by sxp | Hacker News Reader

The article is missing a link to the Clearview forms to request a copy of the data or request deletion: https://clearview.ai/privacy/requests

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Its absolutely wild that for anyone that's not a resident of California or EU/UK -- there isn't a way for you to request anything other than specific images/links.

> there isn't a way for you to request anything other than specific images/links.

And you can't even do that unless you've already managed to remove the image from the internet:

https://clearview.ai/privacy/deindex:

> This tool will not remove URLs from Clearview which are currently active and public. If there is a public image or web page that you want excluded, then take it down yourself (or ask the webmaster or publisher to take it down). After it is down, submit the link here.

At least for GDPR reasons (as far as I understand it) you can forbid the use of your data. They then are not allowed to use your data in any way. Even data already public or put on the internet by you in the future.

If they do they are in "deep shit" (pardon my french) legally. I actually hope they do this - and somebody can catch them in the act. I believe they will be gone soon then.

Also I would advise anyone under GDPR legislation to also request exactly with whom the data was shared and go on to also request deletion and usage information from them. It is a pain that one has to jump all these hoops. I would love for the GDPR to have a way of forcing such a company to also do the information and deletion requests on your behalf and prove that to you.

Sadly this was not included I believe.

Norway also has GDPR.

Even more incredible is that the opt out link requests a clear view of your face to proceed.

Even more incredible that it requires a picture of your ID

It makes sense to me. This is a database keyed by facial images. They don't know your name with certainty. The only way to look you up in the database is by face. Then presumably they need the ID to make sure it's you who's requesting the info. Hard to imagine how else to do it, given the nature of the technology.

Exactly. Otherwise, this is just a vector for any person to exploit the process and freely play cop by uploading a photo of someone they're trying to track.

But isn't that whole value of their service?

Yes, but the value is to provide that in exchange for money, and ostensibly only to law enforcement agencies and similar organizations. (If you try to sign up on their website, it says "Clearview is available to active law enforcement personnel" and that you need to apply for access.) If you're a random citizen and can get the same data, especially for free, the value proposition breaks. And the privacy implications would be worse.

So, I get why they ask for ID, even though I also get the reluctance to give them your ID since it could help tune their system.

How much would you worry about your ID being leaked, if/when Clearview AI is hacked into? What can be done with the info?

How else would they know what images to remove?

This is a case of 'never click "opt-out" on spam'. Clearview is not to be trusted. One should not go through their process. They are not likely to delete the data, and if they have none, they are likely to create a profile for you.

Thank you. I was having a hard time finding this.

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