What’s the meaning

The increase in digitization and the policing of online content has resulted in increased surveillance of the population of India and privacy breaches.

• India is poised to become the world’s largest nation
• The digitalization of services has resulted in more surveillance, according to activists.
• Authorities say leadership is needed to stop the spread of crime.

Khadeer Khan was detained in the South Indian city of Hyderabad in January after the police claimed they had identified Khadeer Khan through CCTV video footage of him as the suspect in a chain snatching case. He was released just a few days later and passed away after being treated for the injuries he allegedly sustained while in custody.

The police claimed Khan was taken into custody due to his resemblance to the man on footage from CCTV footage.

“When it was ruled out that Khadeer was not the one who had committed the crime, he was released. Everything was done as per procedure,” said K. Saidulu, a deputy superintendent of police.

Human rights activists claim that the 36-year-old was misidentified. This is a growing threat with the extensive usage of CCTV in Telangana state, which is one of the highest concentrations of the technology used to monitor people in the country.

“We have been warning for many years that CCTV and facial recognition technology can be misused for harassment and that they can misidentify people,” said S.Q. Masood a human rights activist who filed an action in 2021 to stop face recognition technology in Telangana that’s still pending.

“This case has exposed just how harmful it can be,” he said to Context.

In the United States, CCTV and facial recognition use is growing in airports, schools and train stations, prisons, and the streets as authorities implement an all-over system to reduce the crime rate and locate missing children.

It’s not the only type of surveillance available in the United States.

Biometric National ID Aadhaar, with some 1.3 billion I.D.s issued and linked to many databases, including vehicles, bank accounts, SIM cards, and voter lists. The National Intelligence Grid aims to connect more than two dozen government databases for citizens’ profiles.

The policing of the internet has also increased through increased monitoring of social media sites, as well as some of the more frequent internet shutdowns around the globe.

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Authorities believe they are required for better governance and increased security in a highly under-policed nation. But experts from the field of technology claim they have no connection to crimes, and they violate the privacy of vulnerable individuals and target them.

“Everything’s being digitised, so there’s a lot of information about a person being generated that is accessible to the government and to private entities without adequate safeguards,” said Anushka Jain, a legal counsel for Internet Freedom Foundation, an advocacy group based in Delhi.

“At a time when people are attacked for their religion, language and sexual identity, the easy availability of these data can be very harmful. It can also result in individuals losing access to welfare schemes, to public transport or the right to protest whenever the government deems it necessary.”