India is working on building the world's biggest facial recognition system

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With a population of about 1.37 billion people, it is no surprise that India is looking to build the largest facial recognition system in the world. The government hopes that with this technology, they would be able to find missing people, stop child trafficking, crimes and more. 

The unnamed project works by matching images from the CCTV cameras around India against a database of their own with images made up of criminal mugshots, passport photos as well as photos collected from agencies. In addition, images from newspapers, magazines, images sent in from the public as well as sketches from artists are also thrown into the mix. If there is a match with photos, an alert is generated. Besides that, the authority will also be equipped with hand-held mobile devices that enables them to capture photos when they are out in public and quickly cross-check the person in the system. 

It is likely that the company coming into India to oversee the project will be foreign as the requirements to participate in the project includes completing at least 3 facial recognition projects globally, something most Indian companies have not accomplished. However, the company must also have a local partner. As of right now, IBM, HP and ACN have shown interest in the project. 

According to sources, the project must be completed within 8 months after signing the contract, raising some issues and limitations. It is likely not possible for a facial recognition that large to be completed in a short amount of time. A more likely timeframe would be around 12 - 18 months. 

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However, the centralized platform is already pretty much done as it is constantly updated by law enforcement agencies of each state in India. All the companies have to do now is link up the database to the CCTVs with facial recognition technology. The biggest obstacle is having those CCTVs installed. As of right now, New Delhi only has 10 CCTVs per 1000 people, and the number is much lower in rural areas which make up 66% of the country’s population. This is about to change as New Delhi is expecting 330000 new CCTVs soon. Hyderabad and New Delhi airports are also already using facial recognition.

Despite that, there is a growing worry that the facial recognition system can be used as a tool of social policing as India does not have a data protection law. India’s biometric database, Aadhar, currently holds 1.2 billion Indian citizens’ personal data. If linked up to the facial recognition system, this would allow India to set up a permanent surveillance state. 

Malaysia currently is also working on utilizing a facial recognition system to track down criminals. The first state to use this is Penang. It is not as vast as the facial recognition system India wishes to build, but it is a start. Would you be okay if Malaysia were to introduce a facial recognition system? Keep up with the latest tech news on TechNave.com!