Apple has blocked Clearview AI’s iPhone app, saying it violated the terms of its enterprise program (via TechCrunch).
Clearview AI App
The app was used by law enforcement to upload photos to compare to Clearview AI’s database of scraped images from the web. Clearview AI has been at the receiving end of controversial news. Tech companies say it violated their terms of service by scraping user images, while Clearview AI’s list of clients was stolen just days ago. Now it faces Apple’s ire.
The app was hosted in an Amazon S3 storage bucket, even though the page warns that the app is “not to be shared with the public.” In order to use the app the person must install and approve Clearview AI’s enterprise certificate. But this practice is against Apple’s guidelines as enterprise apps must be for internal use only. Clearview AI says it is working with Apple to comply with the terms and conditions.
Further Reading
[Someone Stole Clearview AI’s List of Clients]
[Clearview AI Faces Class Action Lawsuit Similar to Facebook]
“Clearview AI says it is working with Apple to comply with the terms and conditions”.
Oh, good.
I was worried that, just in case my photos weren’t uploaded in Clearview’s previous hoovering, they’d at least get another chance at getting stolen and distributed courtesy of Clearview’s shambolic security practices. Hopefully, they haven’t changed anything.