Privacy fears as India police use facial recognition at rally

Police in the Indian capital of New Delhi used facial recognition software to screen crowds at a recent political rally – a first for India – raising concerns about privacy and mass surveillance amid nationwide protests against a new citizenship law.

The Automated Facial Recognition System (AFRS) software that the Delhi Police had installed to identify missing children was used at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally on December 22, a police spokesman said on Monday, without giving further details.