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A running, sourced timeline of how license-plate readers, body cams and AI policing tools are actually going — and what the failures cost taxpayers.

Timeline / entry

· Chicago, IL

Federal judge approves Clearview AI settlement paying class in company equity, valued at $51.75 million

On March 20, 2025 U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman in the Northern District of Illinois granted final approval to a nationwide class settlement of consolidated Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act and other state-law claims against Clearview AI, which built a database of tens of billions of face images scraped from social media and other websites. Rather than a cash fund, the class receives a 23 percent equity stake in the company, valued at about $51.75 million on an agreed $225 million company valuation as of January 2024, with an option to take 17 percent of revenue through September 2027 instead. The value is contingent on the class being able to monetize the stake. The deal followed the ACLU’s separate 2022 Illinois consent order barring Clearview from selling its database to private entities nationwide and to any Illinois entity, including police, for five years. European regulators have separately fined the company, including a €30.5 million Dutch penalty announced September 3, 2024.

$51,750,000Settlementreportednot on THE TABEstimated value of the 23% equity stake; paid by the vendor to a private class, not by any government, and contingent on a future sale or IPO. Not public money.

Also in Chicago, IL

10 entries over 6 yr 4 mo, oldest first. The gap is the time since the previous one.

  1. Chicago police decommission the Strategic Subject List after $3.8 million and ten years
  2. +3 monthsOIG advisory on CPD predictive risk models cites unreliability and decommissioning
  3. +4 monthsACLU sues Clearview AI; Chicago PD says it no longer uses the facial recognition tool
  4. +1 yr 3 moChicago OIG finds ShotSpotter rarely leads to evidence of gun crimes
  5. +10 monthsCook County holds hearing on ICE data broker use
  6. +2 yr 3 moChicago switches off ShotSpotter after spending more than $53 million since 2018
  7. +1 dayChicago Lets ShotSpotter Contract Expire After $49 Million in Spending
  8. +6 monthsFederal judge approves Clearview AI settlement paying class in company equity, valued at $51.75 million this entry
  9. +5 monthsChicago pays $90,000 to settle class action over ShotSpotter-prompted stops
  10. +7 monthsChicago pays $500,000 to man charged with murder on the strength of a ShotSpotter alert

Sources

  1. Judge OKs Loevy's Innovative $51.75 Million Settlement in Clearview AI Class Action Lawsuit — Loevy + Loevy, Mar 21, 2025 (loevy.com)
  2. Clearview AI Gets Settlement Approved in Face-Scan Privacy Case — Bloomberg Law, Mar 21, 2025 (news.bloomberglaw.com)
  3. In Big Win, Settlement Ensures Clearview AI Complies With Groundbreaking Illinois Biometric Privacy Law — ACLU of Illinois (aclu-il.org)
  4. Dutch DPA imposes a fine on Clearview because of illegal data collection for facial recognition — Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens (Dutch Data Protection Authority), Sep 3, 2024 (autoriteitpersoonsgegevens.nl)[archive]

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