// factory runsample · synthetic data
FaceFinder
“Upload a photo of a stranger, find their social profiles.” Submitted to the factory — and stopped at the legal gate.
● stopped at legal gate9m · 2/8 stages
00IntakeIdea Brief3m ●
idea (verbatim)
“An app where you upload a photo of someone you saw — in a cafe, on the street — and AI finds their Instagram and other socials so you can message them.”
classifier
Automated screen: NEEDS_HUMAN_REVIEW — biometric identification of third parties without consent. Escalated to the operator.
01Legal gateVerdict: REJECTED — in writing6m ●
verdict
REJECTED. The factory will not research, build or deploy this.
why
Identifying strangers from their face is biometric processing of people who never consented — unlawful under GDPR/UK GDPR (special category data, no legal basis), and the product’s core use case enables stalking and harassment. This is not fixable by adding a disclaimer: the harm is the feature.
what could work instead
A consent-based version is buildable: people opt in to be findable (a “say hi” QR/handle for real-world meets), or a tool that finds where your own photos appear online. Resubmit a scoped-down idea and it re-enters the line at Stage 00.
record
Verdict logged with policy version and trace-id. Rejections are always delivered in writing — you learn exactly why, for free.
Stages 02–08 were not executed. No research tokens were spent past the gate, and nothing was built or deployed.