Mikhail Shulman, a Moscow activist, in the city’s Metro. He was arrested in the subway system Jan. 31 through facial recognition, which is being increasingly used to track protesters to their homes and arrest them. © Mikhail Shulman
Washington Post: Russia’s surveillance state still doesn’t match China. But Putin is racing to catch up.
MOSCOW —Russian authorities are ramping up the use of facial recognition technology to track opposition protesters to their homes and arrest them — a powerful new Kremlin tool to crush opposition.
But when state security agents are suspected of murders or attacks on journalists and opposition activists, surveillance cameras have at times been switched off or “malfunction.”
And the system is so leaky that surveillance data on individuals can be bought for a small sum on Russia’s notorious black market in data, along with all kinds of other personal information.
There is even a name for the clandestine cyber bazaar: probiv.
China leads the world in rolling out a vast network of facial recognition technology, including a system to track and repress its Uyghur minority. But Putin’s Russia is racing to catch up.
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WNU Editor: Russia is getting a lot of help from China .... How China and Russia Spread Surveillance (US News and World Report).
