Kashmir Hill

A few years ago, I got a tip that seemed too outrageous to be true: A mysterious company called Clearview AI claimed it had scraped billions of photos from the public web to identify just about anyone based only on a snapshot of their face.

It led me on a fascinating reporting journey and to my book, YOUR FACE BELONGS TO US, coming out in 3 weeks! One big question is whether the average person is ready for a world in which anonymity ceases to exist.

Preorder here! https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/691288/your-face-belongs-to-us-by-kashmir-hill/

Your Face Belongs to Us by Kashmir Hill: 9780593448571 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The story of a small AI company that gave facial recognition to law enforcement, billionaires, and businesses, threatening to end ...

PenguinRandomhouse.com
Aug 30, 2023 at 6:52pmWeb
Show threadBarbaraAug 30, 2023
@kashhill Done. Can't wait to read it.
Show threadKashmir HillAug 30, 2023
@BarbaraEdwards Thank you for this and for spreading the word. I really appreciate it.
Show threadBarbaraAug 30, 2023
@kashhill @PatrickOBeirne you might enjoy this read
Show threadPatrick O'BeirneAug 30, 2023
@BarbaraEdwards @kashhill
Certainly the case in China.
But it's not hard .... look at our profile icons 🙂
Show threadFunkETownAug 31, 2023
@PatrickOBeirne @BarbaraEdwards @kashhill I think my profile tile adequately expresses how I feel about such identification efforts.
Show threadBarbaraAug 31, 2023
@FunkETown 🤣🤣 good one tbf
Show threadNihl L'AmasAug 30, 2023
@kashhill "All Your Face Are Belong To Us" was right there and you missed it
Show threadWilliam GunnAug 30, 2023
@NIH_LLAMAS @kashhill I strongly suspect that title was proposed and killed by a fun-hating editor.
Show threadI Thought I Saw A 2 Aug 30, 2023
@NIH_LLAMAS @kashhill I was going to post the same thing. What a missed opportunity
Show threadKashmir HillAug 31, 2023
@ithoughtisawa2 @NIH_LLAMAS It was the inspiration! I asked the publisher if we could print a few copies with that version of the title but sadly, the answer was no
Show threadI Thought I Saw A 2 Aug 31, 2023
@kashhill @NIH_LLAMAS Glad to hear you tried.
Show threadMarcelAug 31, 2023
@kashhill @ithoughtisawa2 @NIH_LLAMAS If you are ever in The Netherlands for a signing session, I will ask you to correct the title :) So now I am going to have to buy it, of course. Somebody set up us the bomb.
Show threadMarcelAug 31, 2023
@NIH_LLAMAS @kashhill damn those time zones.. You beat me to it by 15 hrs... Somebody set up us the bomb.
Show threadWilliam GunnAug 30, 2023
@kashhill In case it's useful, here's their opt-out link: https://www.clearview.ai/privacy-and-requests
Thank you to California legislators for doing something useful.
Privacy & Requests | Clearview AI

Clearview AI
Show threaddawnfryAug 30, 2023
@williamgunn @kashhill
Of course Missouri doesn’t have an opt-out of facial recognition. Our leaders care nothing about the people of this state.
#FacialRecognition
#Missouri
Show threadI Thought I Saw A 2 Aug 30, 2023
@williamgunn @kashhill And then they ask you to upload a photo of yourself so they can delete all the others they have. I understand the point, but it always seems sketchy when companies to that. Why can't you delete my data without me needing to send you more?
Show threadWilliam GunnAug 30, 2023
@ithoughtisawa2 @kashhill I just sent them one they probably already had.
Show threadhannahshouse2 🇺🇸 CaliforniaAug 31, 2023
@ithoughtisawa2 @williamgunn @kashhill
I sent a picture of my kitchen counter with nothing on it.
Show threadKashmir HillAug 31, 2023
@williamgunn Privacy laws matter! It's a theme in the book too.
Show threadWilliam GunnAug 31, 2023
@kashhill This is what they sent me back after requesting CCPA deletion, FWIW.
Show threadWilliam GunnAug 31, 2023
@kashhill Reading between the lines, it sounds like you have to re-request deletion every two years.
Show threadWndlBAug 30, 2023
@kashhill @Nonya_Bidniss Nonja, if KashHill's title is right, you're going to have to change your screen name.
Show threadChewieAug 30, 2023

@kashhill Sounds interesting, I think I read a newspaper article on the subject a few months ago.

I've pre-ordered the book just now :)

Show threadKashmir HillAug 31, 2023
@chewie Thank you so much!
Show threadDavid EilersAug 30, 2023
@kashhill thanks! I just ordered it. I am not sure how much anonymity exists anyway. My aunt has never owned a computer, nor smart phone, nor had an email, but you can find info about her on the web.
Sounds like it will only get worse….
Show threadKashmir HillAug 31, 2023
@deilers Thank you much. Networked privacy is the challenge! I thought a lot about that when I was investigating Facebook's People You May Know and how its uncanny predictions were fueled by people who handed over their contact books. People would say, 'Why do they know who I know? I never gave them my contacts!' But if your friends handed over their contacts, then they've told Facebook who your social circle is. Too many leaky buckets of information in the digital age.
Show threadDavid EilersOct 10, 2023
@kashhill Finished your book this morning. It is well-written, fast-paced and informative!

In 2003, I moved to CA as part of a startup w/Joe Firmage, the CEO who left US Web in 1999 to find aliens. We co-founded ManyOne Networks to build a Wikipedia-like expert-stewarded system.

Like Ton That, Joe cut corners. It became a mess. All left, but Joe kept raising cash thru dubious means. Joe: 08/31/23 https://tinyurl.com/usehyxtn

Thanks for the thoughtful, albeit scary, book!
Tech Entrepreneur Sued Over $25 Million Lab Project Ponzi Scheme

Joe Firmage, an entrepreneur who claimed to have devised a new aerospace propulsion technology concept, allegedly ran a Ponzi scheme to solicit investments by misrepresenting that the project had been awarded federal contracts, according to a Utah federal lawsuit filed by his backers.

Show threadDing wagonAug 30, 2023
@kashhill but a single photo of someone involved in a popular scandal will be enough to introduce that person to the whole world and even pinpoint their location. Plus so many people look similar so if you find 200 people with 200 different names but the same face, to me, that’s like finding 200 ppl with the same name, I don’t care. And if I do care it’s because they’re already scandalous, and if they are we found them “the old fashioned way” probably, pre this ai company. Must be other value.
Show threadxrvsAug 31, 2023
@kashhill hm
Show threadAT-AT Assault 🏳️‍⚧️Aug 31, 2023

@kashhill

Wow, first time I'm ever going to *thank* one of my phobias. I'm literally camera-phobic. I CANNOT STAND seeing my picture, and absolutely refuse to let cameras take my picture.

Show threadBrightFlame 🌟☀️🌙Aug 31, 2023
@kashhill wow, this is scary.
Show threadLegionAug 31, 2023
@kashhill shouldn't that be 'all your face are belong to us'?
Show threadLegionAug 31, 2023
@kashhill I'll show myself out
Show threadKay Lam-MacLeodAug 31, 2023

@kashhill clearview AI was on the news a few nights ago as ‘the technology saving children in the US that our police cannot use (in Australia)’ because ‘the right to privacy is keeping crims on the loose’.

So I assume the demand for Laura Norder will ensure it’s ubiquitous here soon (but also mostly used for reasons other than catching crims).

Show threadDark Matter ZineAug 31, 2023
@kashhill Several years ago I was minding my own business when a group of Asians stopped to “take a photo” at a set of traffic lights with NO point of interest. I was convinced they were really taking a photo of me. Shortly after that I learnt about China’s effort to catalogue all our faces. Now I just put my fingers in my ears and sing loudly.
Show threadCrucifixion's a DoddleAug 31, 2023
@kashhill Did the publishers reject "All you face are belong to us" as per the original meme?
Show threadKashmir HillSep 18, 2023
@drunkenmadman I asked if we could do a limited edition run with the "All Your Face Are Belong To Us" title but no dice
Show threadEnema CowboyAug 31, 2023

@kashhill

All Your Face Are Belong To Us.

Show threadkolyaAug 31, 2023
@kashhill "just about anyone" apparently refers to US citizens only.
Show threadwheatley gamingSep 1, 2023
@kashhill spooky!
Show threadKevin OhSep 5, 2023
@kashhill congrats! such a fascinating investigation
Show threadStephen CerrutiSep 17, 2023

@kashhill I wish that when we said "anonymity ceases to exist" we remembered that anonymity, as used here, is a fairly recent invention.

People used to carry letters of introduction simply so they wouldn't be anonymous.

Anonymity will still exist in other forms just as it always has, and perhaps more so. I'm thinking specifically of Banksy and Satoshi Nakamoto.

I preordered the audiobook.

Show threadKashmir HillSep 18, 2023
@scerruti Yes, I agree. Privacy and anonymity were born of industrialization and big city life. So many of the tech tools that capture our imaginations are taking us back to "small city life" where everyone in town knows your name and your business. Modern internet spaces are like "small towns" of millions of people.
Show threadStephen CerrutiSep 19, 2023

@kashhill have you compared this to China's social score? They have essentially mechanically turked facial recognition. People in my sphere are appalled but most in China see it as a way to ensure conformity.

Edit: Chapter 3

Show threadPatrick DuffySep 20, 2023
@kashhill Listening to you yesterday on the radio was scary af!