Cybersecurity
India Is Planning a Huge China-Style Facial Recognition Program
- Government plan has raised privacy, data security concerns
- Bids for facial recognition tender to be opened on Oct. 10
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India is planning to set up one of the world’s largest facial recognition systems, potentially a lucrative opportunity for surveillance companies and a nightmare for privacy advocates who fear it will lead to a Chinese-style Orwellian state.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government will open bids next month to build a system to centralize facial recognition data captured through surveillance cameras across India. It would link up with databases containing records for everything from passports to fingerprints to help India’s depleted police force identify criminals, missing persons and dead bodies.