OkCupid shares users' facial details with Clarifai

Dating site OkCupid shared personal photographs of its users without their consent with computer vision company Clarifai, prompting an outcry from civil rights and privacy advocates . The New York Times alleged that in 2014 dating site OkCupid had provided C larifai with personal photographs of its users to build its facial recognition technology, and that it had done so without the knowledge or consent of its users. The article also asserted that an OkCupid founder who was also a Clarifai investor had supplied the photographs. The revelation resulted in an outcry from civil rights and privacy advocates, and a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigation into the deal. ➕ February 2020. The incident resulted in a class action lawsuit accusing Clarifai of surreptitously violating the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) by failing to inform OKCupid users about the use of their pictures and getting their written consent. ➕ July 2022 . Reuters reported that OkCupid owner Match.com had been actively styming the FTC's enquiries using a variety of legal manoeuvres. System 🤖 Cla rifai 🔗 Operator: Clarifai Developer: Clarifai; Match Group/OkCupid Country: USA Sector: Media/entertainment/sports/arts Purpose: Train facial recognition systems Technology: Dataset; Computer vision; Facial recognition; Machine learning; Neural network Issue: Accountability; Privacy; Transparency Legal, regulatory 👩🏼‍⚖️ Stein v Clarifai (2021) (pdf) Stein v Clarifai court dockets

Date it happened

2019-07-01

Organisation involved

Clarifai

This is a record of what was reported, not a finding that anyone broke the law. If it names your organisation and you believe it is wrong, the corrections process is free and open to everyone.