Saying No to Surveillance State

Recently, an RTI filed by the Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) revealed that the Delhi Police is using Facial recognition technology (FRT) to nab rioters in the capital city. This has caused an uproar as many members of the civil society raised concerns and called the Delhi Police's use of FRT'unethical' in the absence of a Data Protection Act in the country. The argument being made by them is national security should not come at the cost of privacy. Technology such as FRT has been controversial, and authorities leveraging such tech is definitely a concern. The RTI filed by IFF revealed that the procurement of the FRT by the Delhi Police was authorised as per a 2018 direction of the Delhi High Court in Sadhan Haldar v NCT of Delhi.