RTI to South Western Railway on KSR Bengaluru Station dated March 9, 2022

The information sought herein pertains to the use of Facial Recognition Technology by the South-Western Railways on KSR (Bengaluru) Station. Kindly make available the following information through a DVD or over email as available with the administration, under section 6 of the RTI Act:

Please provide information in response to the following queries:

1. Please state whether the Bengaluru Police is using Facial Recognition Technology for any purpose.

2. Please state whether the South-Western Railways is using Facial Recognition Technology on KSR (Bengaluru) Station in conjunction with any CCTV or camera.

3. Please state the legislation or the rule under which South-Western Railways is using Facial Recognition Technology on KSR (Bengaluru) Station.

4. Please state whether any legal opinion has been sought for the procurement of facial recognition technology. If yes, please provide a copy of the legal opinion. If not, then reasons for failure to seek any legal opinion.

5. Please state whether any cost-benefit analysis, feasibility study or privacy impact assessment has been conducted for the deployment of facial recognition technology. If yes, please provide a copy of the final report. If not, then reasons for failure to conduct any cost-benefit analysis, feasibility study or privacy impact assessment.

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

7. Please provide information with regard to the accuracy rate of the facial recognition technology being used.

8. Please state the specific purposes for which facial recognition technology is being used by the Bengaluru Police.

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

10. Please provide an exhaustive list of persons and/or organisations and/or government departments and/or wings authorised to operate and use facial recognition technology.

11. Please provide details of the software and hardware being used for facial recognition including screenshots of dashboard and specifications of the hardware used.

12. 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 organisations who have access to this database

13. Please provide an exhaustive list of databases with which the facial recognition technology will be linked in order to identify individuals.

14. Please provide a copy of all relevant documents on queries asked herewith.

In case the above requested information is not in digital form to be shared by DVD or through email, kindly provide physical printed photocopies of the same.