SC notice to Centre on use of facial recognition technology to identify protesters
India's Supreme Court has issued a notice to the central government over its use of facial recognition technology to identify protesters. The court's move signals judicial scrutiny of how biometric surveillance is being deployed against people exercising the right to dissent.
Why this matters: Using facial recognition to identify protesters is not a neutral law enforcement tool. It is a way to put a name and a file to everyone who shows up at a demonstration. That chills protest before it even happens. People weigh whether to attend when they know the government may be building a record of who was there. India's Supreme Court is asking the right question: does the state get to scan crowds of political dissenters without any legal boundary? The answer to that shapes how much dissent is actually possible.
Who should care: Privacy officers · Cybersecurity · General readers · Policy
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