Activists asking ECHR to find use of facial identification system in Moscow unlawful
MOSCOW. July 6 (Interfax) - Opposition politician Vladimir Mikov and activist Alyona Popova have filed a lawsuit with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) concerning the illegality of the mass use of facial identification technology in Moscow, Kirill Koroteyev, head of international practice at Agora, told Interfax.
"In our lawsuit with the ECHR, we will contest the following articles of the Convention on Human Rights: 8 (right to respect for private life), 11 (freedom of assembly and association), 14 (protection from discrimination), and 15 (derogation in time of emergency)," Koroteyev said on Monday.
According to earlier reports, on June 18, the Moscow City Court ordered a retrial of the claim filed by Milov and Popova against the authorities and the police on the illegality of the use of facial identification technology in Moscow.
Defense lawyers insist that the facial identification technology, the collection of biometric information, is illegal, since by law, personal data may be collected only with people's permission.
On February 3, the Moscow Tverskoi District Court terminated the proceedings on a lawsuit on the illegality of the use of the facial identification system in Moscow. The administrative defendants in the lawsuit were the Russian Interior Ministry's Directorate for Moscow and the Moscow Information Technologies Department.
In fall 2019, the Moscow Savyolovsky District Court had already tried that lawsuit, but the defendant was then only activist Popova. On November 6, the court declined Popova's claim. The decision was later upheld by the Moscow City Court.
Popova had asked the court to find the actions by the administrative defendants to use a facial identification system on the territory of Moscow in the City Video Surveillance System to be unlawful. She also asked the defendants be ordered "to refrain from using facial identification technology on the territory of Moscow" and delete her biometric information from the database of citizens' images used in the city video surveillance system.
After the court ruling, the activist told Interfax she would appeal the decision with the ECHR and had no intention of stopping at that lawsuit.
A mass facial identification system, which helps the city authorities and law enforcement agencies ensure security, began working in Moscow in 2017.
The media earlier reported that Microsoft and Amazon had announced the termination of all developments in the sphere of facial identification. In particular, their decisions were due to aggravation of the debate on the issue of racism.
