Context: Delhi Police is planning a city-wide rollout of facial recognition technology (FRT) later this year in 2025. Experts warn that the increasing integration of such technology across platforms may come at a cost.
Relevance of the Topic: Prelims: About Facial recognition technology.
Facial Recognition Technology:
- Facial recognition is a cutting-edge biometric technology that identifies or verifies an individual by analysing their facial features.
- The algorithm-based technology creates a unique digital map of a person’s face by detecting and analysing facial features such as the distance between the eyes, shape of the jaw etc. This faceprint is then compared to a database of stored images for identity verification or identification.
Automated Facial Recognition System (AFRS)
- AFRS uses a large database containing millions of facial images including those from CCTV footage, social media, and official records.
- When an unidentified image is captured (E.g., from a surveillance camera), AFRS uses artificial intelligence to find a matching pattern in the database and identify the person.
There are two types of Matching:
- 1:1 Verification: Confirms if the face matches a single image (e.g., unlocking your phone).
- 1:N Identification: Compares the face to an entire database to identify an unknown individual (E.g., identifying suspects in law enforcement). Delhi Police usually use FRT for 1:N identification.
Limitations of FRT
- Accuracy Issue: The system may wrongly identify someone (false positive) or fail to recognise the correct person (false negative). Accuracy drops with poor angles, low light, or occlusions like masks or sunglasses.
- Limited Datasets: Studies have shown higher error rates for women, children, and people with darker skin tones, especially, when systems are trained on datasets lacking diversity. Delhi Police treat matches above 80% similarity as positive results, while matches below 80% as false positive results which require additional corroborative evidence.
Facial Recognition System in Delhi:
- Since 2018, the Delhi Police has been using the Facial Recognition System (an Israeli software) to monitor high-security events in the Capital.
- FRS vans are armed with cameras, computers, and automatic number plate readers (configured to scan faces instead of license plates) and stationed in different parts of the two districts every day, scanning faces and alerting them of potential hits.
- Apart from fixed cameras, Prakhar vans with mobile cameras scan crowds and crime-prone areas.
Safe City Project
- Delhi Police plans to expand FRS under the Safe City Project with 10,000 high-resolution CCTV cameras across the capital, whose LIVE feed will be beamed directly to a command centre at the police headquarters.
- Implementation: Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
- CDAC will be responsible for setting up C41 (Integrated Command, Control, Communication & Computer Centre) where integrated video feeds will be beamed. These feeds will be analysed in real time, with AI models capable of identifying over 20 faces in a crowd, even under partial visibility or disguised appearances.
However, its use raises serious concerns about privacy and misuse. Without a clear legal framework, it has a chilling effect on civil liberties, there is a risk of misidentifying individuals, profiling, and violating fundamental rights.