CanadaPublic sector2019–2020Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Clearview AI facial-recognition searches
RCMP lost access to Clearview AI, and Canada's privacy commissioner found its collection unlawful
Problem
Police sought to identify people from photographs, including children affected by online sexual abuse.
Approach
The RCMP created paid Clearview accounts in October 2019. Officers submitted photographs for matching against images collected from the internet. Access ended when Clearview withdrew its Canadian services in July 2020 during the privacy investigation.
Results
No published figures
Takeaway
The commissioner found that the RCMP had failed to control new information collection adequately. The force could not satisfactorily explain most of its searches.
Categories
- Size
- Large enterprise
- Industry
- Public sector
- Business function
- Production and quality
- Innovation type
- Process innovation
- AI technology
- Computer vision
- Adoption
- Vendor solution
- Evidence
- Regulator, audit or court
Sources
Source summaries
The commissioner found that collecting personal information from Clearview contravened the Privacy Act. The RCMP disputed that conclusion but agreed to implement recommendations addressing its controls and training. Clearview's withdrawal had already ended access.
Full details are in the original sources.
