RTI to School Education Department, Gujarat on Facial Recognition Technology

The information sought herein relates to the use of facial recognition technology by the Gujarat Education Department. Please provide information in response to the following queries:

1. Please provide a copy of the legislative framework, rules, guidelines or policies governing the use of the facial recognition technology system.

2. Please provide a copy of directions issued to the schools under any law, rules, guidelines or policy for installation of the facial recognition technology system.

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

4. Please provide a copy of tender(s) issued for the installation, procurement and/or maintenance of the facial recognition technology system.

5. Please state the names of organizations/firms/bodies awarded the tender(s) mentioned in query no. 4 with respective dates.

6. Please state whether the data (including video footage and metadata) collected by facial recognition systems is encrypted while at rest and/or during the course of transmission.

7. Please provide an exhaustive list of persons and/or organizations authorised to get access to the data of the facial recognition technology system installed in the school.

8. Please state whether access to the footage of such cameras to the above persons and/or organizations mentioned in Query No. 11 is provided continuously or only in specific circumstances. If access is only granted to the data in specific circumstances, please state the circumstances under which access is granted.

9. Please provide an exhaustive list of locations/control rooms from where the data can be viewed.

10. Please state whether such data can be viewed remotely or from handheld devices. If yes, please provide an exhaustive list of persons and/or organizations who have remote or handheld viewing access to the data.

11. Please state the duration for which the data from such facial recognition systems is stored.