Mass surveillance

Face recognition technology and its use in surveillance by sundry governments is deeply contentious

The ongoing protests and the response has led to a focus on face recognition. In multiple places, police have taken photographs using drones, and then used facial-recognition software to identify individuals in crowds, including many minors. This raises concerns about all-pervasive state surveillance. 

India may soon have one of the largest facial recognition databases. In June, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) tendered out for technical help to build a database for the police match “persons of interest” with pictures, including pictures from sources like newspapers, social media and TV grabs, etc. 

The system should allow the police to carry out “fast