Privacy Advocates Celebrate 'Big Win' Against Facial Recognition Giant

A historic settlement filed in court on Monday highlighted the power of Illinois' strong privacy law and will result in new nationwide restrictions on a controversial technology company infamous for selling access to the largest known database of facial images.

The deal permanently banning Clearview AI from providing most private entities with free or paid access to its database stems from a lawsuit that the ACLU and partners f in 2020, arguing that the company violated Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).

"This settlement is a big win for the most vulnerable people in Illinois," declared Linda Xóchitl Tortolero, president and CEO of the Chicago-based nonprofit Mujeres Latinas en Acción, one of the plaintiffs in the case.

"Much of our work centers on protecting privacy and ensuring the safety of survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault," she added. "Before this agreement, Clearview ignored the fact that biometric information can be misused to create dangerous situations and threats to their lives. Today that's no longer the case."