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India Used Facial Recognition Tech To Identify 1,100 Individuals at a Recent Riot (techcrunch.com) 19

Law enforcement agencies in India used facial recognition to identify more than 1,100 individuals who took part in communal violence in the national capital last month, a top minister said in the lower house of the parliament on Wednesday. From a report: In what is the first admission of its kind in the country, Amit Shah, India's home minister, said the law enforcement agencies deployed a facial recognition system, and fed it with images from government-issued identity cards, including 12-digit Aadhaar that has been issued to more than a billion Indians and driving licenses, "among other databases," to identify alleged culprits in the communal violence in northeast Delhi on February 25 and 26.

"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," said Shah, responding to an individual who had urged New Delhi to not drag innocent people into the facial surveillance. The admission further demonstrates how the Indian government has rushed to deploy facial recognition technology in the absence of regulation overseeing its usage. Critics have urged the government to hold consultations and formulate a law before deploying the technology.

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India Used Facial Recognition Tech To Identify 1,100 Individuals at a Recent Riot

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  • by rldp ( 6381096 ) on Wednesday March 11, 2020 @01:17PM (#59818746)

    What was wrong with the old Delhi?

  • We have the technology to suppress dissidents. Our Great Leaders can create the harmonious society they've promised us, and we can all live satisfactory lives as cogs in a greater machine.

    • by lgw ( 121541 )

      Oh, we need to take it to the next level, London style. With cameras on every corner, and a government discussion stopping all government benefits for any rioter. Surely that's the way to utopia! Right now in the US, only a small percentage of those young enough to riot need that government check each month to live, so the power is limited, but if we can just force everyone onto government health care, then no one will dare riot. Utopia awaits.

  • Fuck India (Score:2, Funny)

    by AndyKron ( 937105 )
    India is fucking bullshit in so many ways
  • Interesting (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Nidi62 ( 1525137 )

    So, the Infian government will use this technology to identify people protesting the new citizenship law, but wont use it for things like several months ago when that university in New Delhi was mobbed by attackers?

  • if it's worth it (Score:4, Insightful)

    by bugs2squash ( 1132591 ) on Wednesday March 11, 2020 @01:44PM (#59818872)

    If a cause is so important to make it worth rioting over then it seems to me that the protesters would be proud to have their names assiciated with their actions. So long as this is being used to identify all people protesting on the public streets and it is reliable I have no specific problem with it.

    I would be more concerned if it were being used to track people day to day that are not part of any protest, or if it were applied lopsidely only to protests by a particular faction.

    • of defacto anonymity in a riot. Ignoring the thin line between riot & protest (gov'ts, the establishment and other ner'do'wells have routinely arranged for folks to go into a protest and stir up trouble so they can crack down) rioting is one of the tools in democracies toolbox. Not one to use lightly (and yes, I know soccer hooligans are an issue) but the ability to riot and get away with it is a way for an oppressed people to make their voices heard when they are otherwise being ignored.

      Think post
    • by Shimbo ( 100005 )

      I would be more concerned if it were being used to track people day to day that are not part of any protest, or if it were applied lopsidely only to protests by a particular faction.

      Reports have it that the violence was largely by Hindu supremacists targeting largely peaceful Moslem protesters, whilst the police stood back and let it happen. So, we will indeed see how evenly the law is applied.

  • by Anonymous Coward
    India is a country where you will be arrested *after you are attacked by rioters* if you are a Muslim or a minority. The current "Hindu is great" government uses tactics straight out of Nazi Germany.

    https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/school-burnt-in-delhi-riots-sealed-owner-arrested/story-t7avOXzwU5iWSwaTmGELuI.html [hindustantimes.com]

    For covering the riots, BBC is termed as "one sided" by the Hindu nationalist :Prasar Bharati chief aka the watchdog of Indian media, and threatened with cases.

    https://theprint.in/ind [theprint.in]
  • by WillAffleckUW ( 858324 ) on Wednesday March 11, 2020 @03:15PM (#59819268) Homepage Journal

    Oh, you thought you weren't being surveilled illegally and unconstitutionally?

    Silly rabbit.

    The King demands your fealty.

  • "This is a software. It does not see faith."

    Unless we cross-index onto the correct database table.

Keep up the good work! But please don't ask me to help.

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