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This scary new app can give you a persons name & address from a photo of their face
Imagine if there was an app out there that would allow a total stranger to upload a photo of you and find out your full name and address. It’d be creepy right?! Well it turns out that app actually exists, thanks to a new startup called Clearview AI.
![[Image: 2u7k3]](https://lic.me/i/2u7k3)
The app is currently only being used by law enforcement agencies in the US, including the FBI, and works by comparing a photo to a database of more than 3 billion pictures that Clearview says it’s got off Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and other sites. So if you have a Facebook or Instagram account, your face is probably already in their database. It then serves up matches along with links to the sites where the photos originally uploaded. It’s then pretty easy to find a name and address from there.
![[Image: 2u7k4]](https://lic.me/i/2u7k4)
The frightening thing is that if the app is already being used by law enforcement, it’s only a matter of time before this technology finds itself in the hands of criminals or just utter freaks. Some rich stalker will have a field day with a app like this. Here’s what CNet had to say about the software:
![[Image: 2u7k5]](https://lic.me/i/2u7k5)
![[Image: 2u7k6]](https://lic.me/i/2u7k6)
Yikes. That does sound like some scary shit. Most girls on Instagram have enough stalkers to contend with already let alone having to deal with the prospect of their ‘biggest fans’ turning up at their front door. Anyone fancy making a meme: Only 90s kids will remember privacy!
The app is currently only being used by law enforcement agencies in the US, including the FBI, and works by comparing a photo to a database of more than 3 billion pictures that Clearview says it’s got off Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and other sites. So if you have a Facebook or Instagram account, your face is probably already in their database. It then serves up matches along with links to the sites where the photos originally uploaded. It’s then pretty easy to find a name and address from there.
The frightening thing is that if the app is already being used by law enforcement, it’s only a matter of time before this technology finds itself in the hands of criminals or just utter freaks. Some rich stalker will have a field day with a app like this. Here’s what CNet had to say about the software:
The size of the Clearview database dwarfs others in use by law enforcement. The FBI’s own database, which taps passport and driver’s license photos, is one of the largest, with over 641 million images of US citizens.
Law enforcement officers say they’ve used the app to solve crimes from shoplifting to sexual exploitation to murder. But privacy advocates warn that the app could return false matches to police and that it could also be used by stalkers and others. They’ve also warned that facial recognition technologies in general could be used to conduct mass surveillance
Yikes. That does sound like some scary shit. Most girls on Instagram have enough stalkers to contend with already let alone having to deal with the prospect of their ‘biggest fans’ turning up at their front door. Anyone fancy making a meme: Only 90s kids will remember privacy!
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