Moscow to install facial-recognition cameras on metro screens

The Moscow authorities plan to install 316 multimedia screens in the metro, each fitted with cameras and facial-recognition technology to monitor passengers. 

According to Kommersant, citing a corresponding procurement on the state procurement site, the city plans to spend 932 million rubles on the project.

In the Moscow Metro, officials said that “the cameras in the screens are not intended for facial recognition or locating specific individuals.” However, the project documentation states that each camera should include intelligent modules — for example, “facial detection,” counting people and identifying crowding.

The enhanced functionality envisions “an object-behavior determination module.” Among other things, it should detect “rapid movement” and “loitering.”

The cameras will be integrated with the metro’s systems to transmit “metadata from the camera about the recognized object.”

In recent years, Moscow authorities have actively developed and expanded video-surveillance coverage. For details on how a system equipped with facial-recognition technology operates in Moscow and why rights defenders oppose it, read the link below.

From the capital with love: how facial recognition technologies are being implemented in Russian cities

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