Moscow (AFP)
The city of Moscow on Friday launched facial recognition payment in the capital's metro, the latest example of the rapid development, and some controversial, of this technology in Russia.
"To enter the metro, passengers don't need a map or smartphone - just look into the turnstile camera. You don't need to touch your smartphone or any other surface," the mayor said. deputy in charge of transport, Maxime Liksoutov, quoted in a press release from the town hall.
According to him, Moscow is "the first city in the world where the system operates on such a scale" with 241 metro stations supported.
He said payment by facial recognition is "just one of many ways to pay" and remains "voluntary".
Liksutov said he expected 10-15% of passengers to use the system regularly within "two or three years."
In particular, it should make it possible to reduce waiting times in the gigantic Moscow metro network, one of the busiest in Europe.
Authorities have promised that the data exchanged for facial recognition will be "securely encrypted", with the turnstile camera reading a "biometric key" and not an image of the person's face.
This technology, which is developing rapidly in Russia, has however been criticized by several Russian and international NGOs, which are concerned about drifts, data leaks and a lack of consent.
A young woman passes through a gate equipped with a facial recognition payment system, September 23, 2021 in the Moscow metro Natalia KOLESNIKOVA AFP / Archives
Facial recognition has been used in Moscow, with a network of tens of thousands of cameras, to arrest opposition protesters or to control compliance with quarantines due to Covid-19.
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