Clearview AI is a dystopian face recognition tool that drew ire in 2019 for using images that are illicitly scraped from social media platforms as its training data. Leaked data from April 2021 revealed that dozens of police departments and other government agencies across Massachusetts have run searches using Clearview’s software:

In February and April 2020, the ACLU of Massachusetts filed public records requests with 346 Massachusetts Police Departments, requesting communications and records regarding Clearview AI, a dystopian private facial recognition software.

Below we present the results of these requests, split into the following three categories:

  • Departments which reported use of or communication with Clearview AI
  • Departments which reported only solicitations from Clearview AI
  • Departments which reported no responsive documents

Use of or Communication with Clearview

The below police departments returned responsive documents which showed communication with, and in some cases use of, Clearview AI.

Date Agency/Organization Page
February 2020 Agawam PD Clearview AI at the Agawam PD
February 2020 Andover PD Clearview AI at the Andover PD
February 2020 Boston PD Clearview AI at the Boston PD
February 2020 Beverly PD Clearview AI at the Beverly PD
February 2020 Marlborough PD Clearview AI at the Marlborough PD
February 2020 Salem PD Clearview AI at the Salem PD
February 2020 Somerset PD Clearview AI at the Somerset PD
February 2020 Wellesley PD Clearview AI at the Wellesley PD
February 2020 Yarmouth PD Clearview AI at the Yarmouth PD
April 2020 Bourne PD Clearview AI at the Bourne PD
April 2020 Dalton PD Clearview AI at the Dalton PD
April 2020 Falmouth PD Clearview AI at the Falmouth PD
April 2020 Great Barrington PD Clearview AI at the Great Barrington PD
April 2020 Harvard PD Clearview AI at the Harvard PD
April 2020 Norfolk Sheriff’s Office Clearview AI at the Norfolk Sheriff’s Office
April 2020 Oxford PD Clearview AI at the Oxford PD
April 2020 Sudbury PD Clearview AI at the Sudbury PD
April 2020 West Bridgewater PD Clearview AI at the West Bridgewater PD
April 2020 Foxborough PD Clearview AI at the Foxborough PD
April 2020 Massachusetts State Police Clearview AI at the Massachusetts State Police (MSP)

Solicitations from Clearview Only

The police departments which returned responsive documents which showed only solicitations from Clearview are listed here.

They include: Barnstable, Lowell, Needham, Palmer (Town), Stoneham, Revere, Chelmsford, Concord, Dudley, East Longmeadow, Hanson, Marion, Medway, Merrimac, North Andover, and Tyngsborough.

No Responsive Documents

The police departments which had no responsive documents are listed here.

They include: Abington, Acushnet, Amesbury, Amherst, Arlington, Ashburnham, Ashby, Ashfield, Athol, Attleboro, Auburn, Ayer, Barnstable, Barre, Bedford, Belcher, Belmont, Berkley, Bernardston, Billerica, Blackstone, Blandford, Bolton, Boxborough, Boxford, Boylston, Braintree, Brewster, Bridgewater, Brockton, Brookline, Buckland, Burlington, Canton, Carlisle, Charlemont, Chatham, Chelsea, Chicopee, Clarksburg, Clinton, Cohasset, Cummington, Danvers, Dartmouth, Dedham, Deerfield, Dennis, Douglas, Dover, Dracut, Dudley, Dunstable, East Hampton, Eastbridge, Eastbrookfield, Easton, Edgartown, Egremont, Erving, Essex, Everett, Fall River, Fitchburg, Franklin, Freetown, Gardner, Georgetown, Gill, Gloucester, Goshen, Gosnold, Grafton, Granby, Greenfield, Groveland, Hadley, Halifax, Hamilton, Hanover, Hardwick, Hatfield, Haverhill, Heath, Hingham, Holbrook, Holden, Holland, Holliston, Holyooke, Hopedale, Hopkington, Hubbardston, Hudson, Hull, Ipswich, Lakeville, Lawrence, Lee Town, Leicester, Lenox, Leominster, Leverett, Lexington, Lincoln, Longmeadow, Ludlow, Lunenburg, Lynn, Lynnfield, Malden, Manchester By The Sea, Marblehead, Mashpee, Massart, Mattapoisett, Maynard, Medfield, Medford, Melrose, Mendon, Methuen, Middleborough, Middlefield, Middleton, Milford, Millbury, Millis, Millville, Milton, Monson, Montague, Msp, Nahant, Nantucket, New Bedford, New Salem, Newburyport, Newton, Norfolk, North Adams, North Attleboro, North Brookfield, North Reading, Northbridge, Northfield, Northshore College, Norwell, Norwood, Orange, Orleans, Palmer, Paxton, Peabody, Pelham, Pembroke, Phillipston, Pittsfield, Plainville, Plymouth County Sheriff, Provincetown Od, Quincy, Randolph, Reading, Rehoboth, Rochester, Rockport, Rowe, Rowley, Royalston, Sandwich, Seekon, Sharon, Sheffield, Shelburn, Sherbon, Shirley, Shutesbury, Somerville, South Hadley, Southborough, Southbridge, Spencer, Sterling, Stockbridge, Stoughton, Stow, Sturbridge, Sunderland, Sutton, Swampscott, Swansea, Taunton, Tisbury, Topsfield, Town Of Oxford, Townsend, Tyringham, Uptown, Uxbridge, Wakefield, Walpole, Waltham, Wareham, Warren Ma, Watertown, Webster, Wellfleet, Wenham, West Springfield, West Tisbury, Westfield, Westford, Westminster, Weston, Westwood, Weymouth, Whitman, Wilbraham, Williamstown, Wilmington, Winchendon, Windsor, Winthrop, Woburn, Worcester, and Worcester County Sheriff Office.

No Response

Other Massachusetts police departments not listed above did not respond to our records request.