American Civil Liberties Union
Controversies
Controversies tied to this brand in public sources. A listing is not a finding of fault.
Back to profile4 entries
2020
ACLU files suit against Clearview AI over biometric privacy
Lawsuit filed
The ACLU and other plaintiffs filed a Cook County complaint alleging that Clearview violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act by using residents’ facial and fingerprint identifiers without consent. The article reports allegations, not a court determination.
Company response
Denial — Clearview
Tor Ekeland, an attorney representing Clearview, shot back in a statement, claiming the company’s facial recognition tool is merely “a search engine that uses only publicly available images accessible on the internet.”
Source excerpt
The lawsuit was brought by the ACLU, the ACLU of Illinois and Edelson PC, a law firm that has filed other privacy suits related to BIPA
The complaint filed Thursday in Cook County alleges that Clearview is in violation of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, a law that protects current and former residents’ facial and fingerprint identifiers from being used without consent.
2017
Criticism over defense of Unite the Right-related speech
The ACLU faced criticism after defending constitutional speech and assembly principles in matters connected with the Unite the Right rally. The controversy intensified debate over whether the organization should represent groups whose activities or messages are associated with racism and extremism.
2009
Internal criticism of fundraising direction
Former board member Wendy Kaminer criticized the organization’s expanded fundraising practices and argued that leadership could become too responsive to donors.
2005
Debate over internal gag-rule proposal
Internal disagreement concerned whether employees should be restricted from publicly discussing disputes within the organization.