Know three things, and you will not fall into sin—a seeing eye, a hearing ear, and all thy deeds written in a Book - The Talmud, Avot 2:1

Recently Attorney General Grewal ordered New Jersey police departments not to use facial recognition (FR) software developed by a company called Clearview AI. What distinguishes Clearview’s product from other FR software is that its database isn’t limited to images in law enforcement and other public records. Instead, Clearview has been systematically collecting pictures from the entire online universe of social media and other websites. As a result, individuals who are not otherwise “known to the police,” to use the English expression, can now be identified by Clearview, at least tentatively, for further investigation. There is an open issue whether Clearview had the legal right to record these images for its purposes or whether they amount to fruit of a poisonous tree. There is another, akin to fingerprints and DNA evidence, as to whether and how far the state should collect identifying information about individuals who are not suspected of any violation of the law.