“Hyderabad is on the brink of becoming a total surveillance city. It is almost impossible to walk down the street without risking exposure to facial recognition,” said Matt Mahmoudi, Amnesty International’s AI and Big Data researcher in a statement. Amnesty International has criticised the usage of facial recognition in Hyderabad and has launched a campaign, in collaboration with the Internet Freedom Foundation and Article 19, that pushes for a ban on such technology. The campaign also draws attention to the construction of a Command and Control Centre in Hyderabad which is "intended to connect the State's vast facial recognition-capable CCTV infrastructure in real time", the statement by Amnesty International read. Facial recognition technology can track who you are, where you go, what you do, and who you know. It threatens human rights including the right to privacy, and puts some of the most vulnerable in society at risk. The construction of the CCC has chilling consequences for the right to freedom of expression and assembly — Quinn McKew, Executive Director at ARTICLE 19 The Hyderabad City Police has had a history of introducing tech-related invasive measures that seemingly do not have any legal backing. For instance, in 2019, officials of Hyderabad’s South Zone (Charminar and other areas) used facial recognition on random citizens. Recently, during the COVID-19 pandemic’s second wave, Telangana police took up drone surveillance to maintain lockdown measures. 60% of certain Hyderabad localities under CCTV surveillance The statement said that Amnesty International, IFF, and Article 19 mapped the…
