CLEAR: A Fully User-side Image Search System

TL;DR

CLEAR is a fully user-side image search system that enables personalized, privacy-preserving similar-image searches on Flickr without relying on backend servers or stored indices.

Contribution

This paper presents the first practical implementation of a fully user-side image search system that operates without backend servers or stored images, demonstrating feasibility and customization.

Findings

Realizes a user-side similar image search engine for Flickr

Does not require backend servers or image storage

Enables easy deployment and privacy preservation

Abstract

We use many search engines on the Internet in our daily lives. However, they are not perfect. Their scoring function may not model our intent or they may accept only text queries even though we want to carry out a similar image search. In such cases, we need to make a compromise: We continue to use the unsatisfactory service or leave the service. Recently, a new solution, user-side search systems, has been proposed. In this framework, each user builds their own search system that meets their preference with a user-defined scoring function and user-defined interface. Although the concept is appealing, it is still not clear if this approach is feasible in practice. In this demonstration, we show the first fully user-side image search system, CLEAR, which realizes a similar-image search engine for Flickr. The challenge is that Flickr does not provide an official similar image search engine or corresponding API. Nevertheless, CLEAR realizes it fully on a user-side. CLEAR does not use a backend server at all nor store any images or build search indices. It is in contrast to traditional search algorithms that require preparing a backend server and building a search index. Therefore, each user can easily deploy their own CLEAR engine, and the resulting service is custom-made and privacy-preserving. The online demo is available at https://clear.joisino.net. The source code is available at https://github.com/joisino/clear.