Russia- on Friday Moscow Metro introduced a facial recognition payment system over 240 stations across Russia. However, the new technology brought fears and privacy concerns among many.

The payment system is name Face Pay, it’s a cashless, card less, and phoneless payment system. Many believe it’s a dangerous step to control the population.

Moscow Mayor, Sergey Sobyanin tweeted on Thursday evening,

‘’ Now all the passengers will be able to pay for travel without taking out their phone, metro or bank card.’’

He further added, ‘’ to activate Face pay, passengers will need to connect their photo, bank card, and metro card to the service through the metro’s mobile app. It will be enough just to look at the camera to pass through the turnstiles. ‘’

Experts believe that it will help to deal with people in busy hours. They also expect that up to 15% of metro passengers will use Face Pay for the next three years.

The mayor says, ‘’ Moscow is the first in the world to introduce Face Pay on such a scale. The technology is new and very complex, we will continue to work on improving it.’’

Privacy concerns over the Application

Activists have raised privacy concerns. The founder of Roskomsvoboda, Stanislav Shakirov who works with a group protecting digital rights and freedom of information says,

‘’ This is a dangerous new step in Russia’s push for control over its population. We need to have full transparency on how this application will work in practice.

‘’We are moving closer to authoritarian countries like China that have mastered facial technology. The Moscow metro is a government institution and all the data can end up in the hands of the security service. ‘’

However, authorities said passenger’s data is secure. It is ‘’ securely encrypted” which means the information will be store in data processing centers. Only interior ministry staff can have access to the collected information.

The system includes more than 175,000 surveillance cameras. Activists believe cameras were used to identify protesters who support Alexei Navalny in rallies.

Previously, Russian use facial recognition to enforce Covid-19 quarantine during the two-month lockdown.

Russian metro is one of the busiest metro stations in the world. It’s also a great tourist attraction with mosaics reflecting a range of soviet themes.

 The stations are decorated with beautiful designs to attract travelers. Millions of people travel on daily basis.