The involvement of the private sector in the deployment of facial recognition technology in governmental processes is raising questions related to privacy, particularly regarding the 'indiscriminate use of various datasets', according to a study carried out by the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, a New Delhi-based think tank. There has been a major rise in the use of artificial intelligence and deployment of facial recognition in India by local law enforcement agencies. Since many of these facial recognition projects are being undertaken by private agencies, there is a need to look into the issues that arise out of it. Are surveillance activities being outsourced to private corporations? In the working paper titled 'Procurement of Facial Recognition Technology for Law Enforcement in India: Legal and Societal Implications of the Private Sector's Involvement', authors Ameen Jauhar and Jai Vibra, both senior resident fellows at Vidhi, pointed out that there is no transparency regarding the roles of private corporations who are involved with governments for deployment of FRT. Private companies should not be empowered to surveil on citizens: "The opacity which shrouds the current engagements of state police forces or governments in India with limited private entities, their roles and scope of engagement, and the access they arguably can continue to have over the underlying algorithm, warrants serious questions on the plausible and dangerous merger of state functions with a private entity," said the working paper. What about breach of data?: The working paper pointed out in the absence of legislation such as the…
