Apple disables facial recognition firm Clearview AI's iOS app for violating developer rules

Apple has disabled facial recognition technology startup Clearview AI's developer account, and as a consequence its iOS app, for violating terms of the tech giant's enterprise developer agreement.

The effective ban, confirmed by Apple on Friday, arrives amid a firestorm of controversy relating to Clearview's operating practices and business model, reports BuzzFeed News.

Outlined in a comprehensive New York Times report in January, Clearview tech gathers publicly available photos from the web, some from social media sites, to power a facial recognition product ostensibly marketed solely to law enforcement agencies. The firm has accumulated billions of photos and currently works with more than 2,200 organizations around the world, the report said.

It appears that the company was leveraging Apple's enterprise developer program as a workaround to App Store scrutiny. Earlier this week, BuzzFeed News reported Clearview was using enterprise certificate privileges to distribute its iOS app to private companies including Macy's, Walmart and the NBA, a clear violation of Apple policy.

In a statement to the outlet, an Apple spokesperson said the Apple Developer Enterprise should only be used to distribute apps within one company.

TechCrunch on Friday said it discovered Clearview's app in a publicly accessible Amazon S3 storage bucket, allowing anyone with knowledge of the website to download, install and use the software. Apple's revocation of Clearview's certificate, however, renders the app unusable.

The facial recognition firm was also dinged this week for a data breach that saw its entire client list stolen by hackers.

Apple has in the past found major tech firms in violation of its enterprise program rules. Last year, both Facebook and Google saw their privileges revoked for distributing "research" apps to members of the general public.

6 Comments

planetary paul 143 comments · 10 Years

About 4 years ago

Disabled or terminated?

bobolicious 1170 comments · 10 Years

...even with the best of intentions, as anything centrally (i) cloud vs distributed 'localized' clouds merely a matter of when, and not if from a privacy risk perspective...?

CloudTalkin 916 comments · 5 Years

planetary paul said:

Disabled or terminated?

Disabled. Clearview has 14 days to respond regarding the violation. Depending on their response, they could have their account re-enabled. As noted in the article, FB and Google did similar actions and had their accounts temporarily disabled... and quickly reinstated. FB and Google have major muscle so not sure if Clearview would receive the same considerations as the big boys since they don't have the same level of cachet.

knowitall 1648 comments · 11 Years

Clearly one bad apple.

montrosemacs 118 comments · 17 Years

CloudTalkin said:

planetary paul said:

Disabled or terminated?

Disabled. Clearview has 14 days to respond regarding the violation. Depending on their response, they could have their account re-enabled. As noted in the article, FB and Google did similar actions and had their accounts temporarily disabled... and quickly reinstated. FB and Google have major muscle so not sure if Clearview would receive the same considerations as the big boys since they don't have the same level of cachet.

Not sure how much you value privacy but I encourage you to read the NY Times article and listen to their Daily podcast on this matter, then come back and tell us that ClearView deserves "the same consideration" as any other developer.