A social activist from Hyderabad has filed a petition against the widespread use of facial recognition technology (FRT) in Telangana. Based on the petition, the Telangana High Court issued a notice to the state government and the matter will be heard next on January 15. SQ Masood, who had earlier sent a legal notice to the Hyderabad City Police Commissioner, drafted his recent petition with help from Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) against the Telangana government alleging that — Facial recognition technology restricts the Right to Privacy without complying with applicable law There are lack of procedural safeguards Its deployment was without 'probable or reasonable cause' He urged the High Court to declare the use of FRT by the government as unconstitutional and illegal, and to prohibit government usage by passing any writ of mandamus, writ, direction or order. Of late, the Indian government and several state governments have been turning to facial recognition for policing, identity verification, and even distributing rations. The issue has been debated as privacy was declared a fundamental right in India, but the nation is yet to have a major data privacy law in place. The low accuracy rates of such technology, which may prove to be exclusionary, is a major point of concern. Usage of FRT not in accordance with Puttaswamy judgement The petition which was viewed by MediaNama, said that the usage of FRT in Telangana does not meet the four-fold requirements which were established in the KS Puttaswamy v Union of India and Ors (2017) judgement.…
