Hello,
Smile, you’re on camera! Whether it is Delhi, Howrah, Ahmedabad, Mumbai or any other major Indian city, signs like these warning citizens of 24-hour surveillance are a common sight. Thousands of cameras using real-time facial recognition technology are recording millions of Indian faces every day in public places such as railway stations, temples, and major locations in many cities.
For many, it is comforting. Many of these surveillance systems use facial recognition technology solutions developed by Herta, a Spanish firm. The disturbing reality is that the use of such technology solutions is largely banned in Europe itself under the EU AI Act.
The EU AI Act heavily restricts the use of real-time remote biometric identification systems in public spaces for law enforcement purposes. Facial recognition technology relies on large databases of citizens’ images to match the faces against, but in India, authorities do not reveal which databases are being used, where the data is stored, or who has access to it.
And under India’s latest data protection law, any use of personal information of a citizen without informed consent is illegal, except for the government.
Herta’s technology is being used in surveillance cameras at many major installations across India, including railway stations and temples. India is one of the world’s leading adopters of facial recognition technology, and sadly, without much oversight, transparency, or recourse.
How can this case of double standards exist? How can this be done? Scholars and experts note that the absence of strong legal safeguards has allowed thriving use of such technologies.
The Reporters’ Collective, in collaboration with Investigate Europe, a cross-border journalism cooperative, infoLibre (Spain), an independent Spanish newsroom, and Tech Policy Press (US), brings you this latest investigation.
The investigation looked into the extent of this surveillance technology’s adoption and the use of the Nirbhaya Fund for its deployment. During the investigation, a former senior researcher at Herta claimed that the data Herta acquired through its early Indian deployments was central to overcoming problems with the algorithm's poor performance on non-white faces.
Read the report here: Banned in Europe, Scanning Faces in India
This investigation took place over several months. The Reporters’ Collective can undertake such deep investigations only because of consistent and generous donors like you. Please donate to keep us going.
Warm Regards,
Mayank Aggarwal
Reporter
The Reporters’ Collective