Adoption and Regulation of Facial Recognition Technologies in India: Why and Why Not?

Abstract

The widespread adoption of facial recognition technologies by the public and private sectors, without any meaningful debate or regulation, raises a number of concerns. These concerns revolve around issues of transparency, privacy and civil liberties, accuracy and effectiveness, and evidence of biased outcomes. This paper outlines the various contexts in which the use of this technology is being discussed in India and the challenges that it presents on account of the lack of an informed policy debate and appropriate legal and procedural safeguards. It focuses, in particular, on the proposed National Automated Facial Recognition System and the many ways in which it falls short of satisfying the tests laid down by the Supreme Court in the Puttaswamy right to privacy case.

Keywords: Facial recognition, privacy, surveillance, transparency, bias, policy, regulation, India

JEL Classification: O33, O38, Z18