Law enforcement in India used facial recognition to ID 1,100 rioters in New Delhi

[Cal Jeffrey]

A hot potato: The use of facial recognition by law enforcement is not just a hot-button issue within the United States. Privacy advocates around the world see it as a problem that violates fundamental human rights. India's parliament is the most recent to come under fire after admitting to using what some are calling an unreliable biometric system on its citizens.

Government officials in India have admitted that law enforcement agencies used a facial recognition program to identify more than 1,100 protesters during a February riot in the nation's capital of New Delhi. The individuals are alleged to have participated in "communal violence." The system is also highly inaccurate, privacy advocates claim.

Amit Shah, India's home minister, said that police fed the face-recognition software with images from various databases, including state-issued identification cards, driver's licenses, and the Aadhaar system. Aadhaar is a unique 12-digit ID number based on biometric and demographic data. Aadhaar numbers have been issued to over a billion residents in India.

TechCrunch notes that when criticized for "dragging innocent" parties into the facial surveillance, Shah said, "This is a software. It does not see faith. It does not see clothes. It only sees the face, and through the face, the person is caught."

There is allegedly a lot more that the software does not see. The facial recognition system was initially implemented to identify missing children. The IFF claims that in 2019 the program only had a one-percent accuracy rate and often failed to tell the difference between boys and girls.

The group also contends that the government has implemented the software without judicial authorization. This use goes against court precedence set in 2017 and 2019.

"The use of Aadhaar for this purpose without any judicial authorisation violates the judgement of the Supreme Court in KS Puttaswamy v. UoI (2019)," said IFF Executive Director Apar Gupta. "All of this is being done without any clear underlying legal authority and is in clear violation of the Right to Privacy judgment (that the Indian apex court upheld in 2017). Facial recognition technology is still evolving, and the risks of such evolutionary tech being used in policing are significant."

Image credit: Funstock via Shutterstock

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https://www.techspot.com/news/84359-law-enforcement-india-used-facial-recognition-1100-rioters.html

 

[Xclusiveitalian]

Government now has the ability to shut down protests, which serves to protect only it's own interests. People gather to protest, the government gathers who they are, after they leave you arrest them one by one. Just like that..Democracy dies. Then the government can strip you of all your rights, speech, guns, etc.

 

[OneSpeed]

It's kinda funny how the typographic of the work POLICE is off and not aligned, let alone the letter H is about to start peeling off ?.

 

[Evernessince]

1. They can't prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they facial recognition software is always correct.

2. They can't prove that everyone ID'd actually participated in a way that would be illegal.

3. Tagging everyone in a location with a crime isn't justice, it's suppression of basic rights.

4. Gathering personal information and putting it together is not only an incredibly great hack target, it should be illegal for the government to do so. Especially when it's being used to suppress the people.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

Identifying rioters doesn’t “prevent riots”.

Using the Airforce Active Denial “Pain Beam” prevents riots.

 

[treetops]

The thing is, these databases are not created by law enforcement.... Like finger printing. Relying on an apple stores data base.... Or some FB ai...

 

[Yynxs]

It's kinda funny how the typographic of the work POLICE is off and not aligned, let alone the letter H is about to start peeling off ?.

When you visit the heat and humidity you will understand how stick ons of any type adhering for extended periods is a miracle. That is aside from this being a steel surface and governments notoriously not paying for expensive paints.

 

[Yynxs]

1. They can't prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they facial recognition software is always correct.

2. They can't prove that everyone ID'd actually participated in a way that would be illegal.

3. Tagging everyone in a location with a crime isn't justice, it's suppression of basic rights.

4. Gathering personal information and putting it together is not only an incredibly great hack target, it should be illegal for the government to do so. Especially when it's being used to suppress the people.

You do understand this is India right?