RTI to Ministry of Railways on IPVSS

"The information sought herein relates to the use of facial recognition technologies by the Indian Railway.

  1. Please state the legislation or rule which authorizes the Indian Railway to use facial recognition technology.

  2. Please state whether any legal opinion was sought by the Indian Railway prior to procurement of facial recognition technology. If yes, please provide a copy of the legal opinion.

  3. Please state whether any cost-benefit analysis, feasibility study or privacy impact assessment was conducted prior to deployment of facial recognition technology. If yes, please provide a copy of the same.

  4. Please state whether there are any guidelines, policies, rules or standard operating procedure governing the use of facial recognition technology by the Indian Railway. If yes, please provide a copy of the same.

  5. Please state the specific purposes for which facial recognition technology is being used by the Indian Railway.

  6. Please state whether facial recognition technology is being used by the Indian Railway to identify individuals at protests or rallies.

  7. Please state the total expenditure incurred (in rupees) on procurement and maintenance of facial recognition technology with an annual breakdown.

  8. Please provide a copy of the following documents relating to tender issued by the Indian Railway for procurement of facial recognition technology:

a. All tender documents including Request for Proposals, Request for Quotations and Scope of Work

b. List of bidders who applied for the tender

  1. Please provide an exhaustive list of persons and/or organizations authorised to operate and use facial recognition technology.

  2. Please provide details of the software and hardware being used for facial recognition.

  3. Please provide details of the database(s) in which images are stored for the purpose of facial recognition including:

a. Where these images are sourced from

b. Where is this database located

c. Which persons and/or organizations who have access to this database

"

Filed to: Ministry of Railways
Status: Response Received
Published By
Anushka Jain

Anushka Jain

Policy Counsel, IFF

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