COVER STORY/FACIAL
complexity and the chances of error.
The life of the facial recognition software in India began benevolently with the aim to identify missing children. In those circumstances, an accuracy rate of even 1 per cent is admirable; one more child out of every 100 returned to the safety of their families. But the same statistics seem totalitarian and dystopian when they are capable of implicating citizens with criminality.
Despite the challenges, India is betting high on the technology and is on its way to create one of the world’s largest face recognition-based surveillance systems. The National Automated Facial Recognition System, being developed by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) that comes under Shah’s ministry, claims to automatically identify and verify criminals, missing persons, unidentified bodies and unknown traced persons.
The Union government in July last year released a request for proposal document to give project information to prospective developers. The document has since been revised several times due to backlash from civil societies. Even the deadline for developers to enrol for the bidding has been extended over 10 times. It closed recently on October 8.
The National Automated Facial Recognition System will have a searchable visual database of “missing persons, unidentified found persons, arrested foreigners, unidentified dead bodies and criminals based around dynamic police databases”. It will also have individual information, such as name, age, addresses and special physical characteristics. The database will be accessible through mobile phones and will be available with the state police, along with the Union home ministry and NCRB. It can be accessed by 2,500 users at the same time. The system will also provide matching functions based on images/visuals of modified facial features like plastic surgery, aged image, bearded faces, make-up, expression, hairstyle, glasses, scar marks and tattoos.
DELHI POLICE IN 2017 INTRODUCED FACIAL RECOGNITION SYSTEM TO IDENTIFY MISSING CHILDREN. OVER TIME, THEY STARTED USING IT FOR SURVEILLANCE