Clearview AI, the First Amendment, and Facial Recognition

An interesting commentary by Clayton Kozinski (Lehotsky Keller LLP) on the lawsuit in which the Duke First Amendment Clinic, Jane Bambauer, and I filed an amicus brief (which unfortunately didn't persuade the judge); here's the opening:

The conversation about facial recognition technology typically centers around privacy. But an ongoing lawsuit in Illinois shows that it has just as much to do with free expression.

Clearview AI is the defendant in ACLU v. Clearview AI. It produces powerful facial recognition technology used by law enforcement across the country. Like all facial recognition software, Clearview's is powered by faceprints.

The Illinois Superior Court recently rejected Clearview's motion to dismiss argument that the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) impermissibly infringes its First Amendment rights. BIPA prohibits companies from collecting "faceprints" — geometric measurements of facial dimensions — without first obtaining individual consent….