About Face: What a facial scanner for entry to the Maharashtra Assembly says about privacy and security

The opposition in Maharashtra found an unusual issue this week—the recently instituted use of facial recognition to grant entry into the Assembly premises. In a discussion in the House, they asked why no consent was taken before using their faces, where was the data stored and the mechanisms to protect it from misuse. All very legitimate questions.

Among biometrics, facial recognition is possibly the most suspect. A retinal scan or a fingerprint is hard to get wrong, but a face is a different matter even though the technology has radically advanced. What facial recognition does score high on is convenience. There is no extra effort required in giving your credentials. For entry into a high-security zone like the Assembly, it might not be the best option, unless it is an additional layer.

There is however an irony about people in public life, like politicians, being apprehensive about protecting their facial identity. That is flashed every day to millions. Privacy is something you trade-off in politics. Not just politicians, even the common man will eventually lose this right because of the nature of what the world is shaping into. Remember how deepfakes shocked us once. Now Instagram is full of artificial intelligence being used to make celebrity lookalike content for clickbaits. Actors and others have gone to court to protect personality rights against this, but the flood is so gargantuan that it is just not worth the effort to stem it. They have become inured to it. It now only requires a small stamp-sized mug shot to create a full body through a one-line prompt. Right now, 90 per cent of India does not even know such a thing is possible but they will. There is no putting the genie back into the bottle.

Privacy and security are however two different consider­ations. To know that one’s face is misused for a Reel is very different from it being the mechanism to open your bank account. You can still do that but it is your choice in a phone you hold in your hand. If a bank branch starts doing it, you would think twice about having an account there.