Buenos Aires’ controversial facial recognition network remains in limbo

The future of Buenos Aires’ controversial public facial recognition system, which has been used to spy on civil society members and has led to erroneous arrests, is still uncertain.

In February, a court in the Argentinian capital ruled that the public surveillance system, known as the Fugitive Facial Recognition System (SNRP), will remain suspended as there is still no agreement on how to audit the technology. No date has been defined on when the system might be re-activated.

The court has instructed the city’s government and civil society groups ODIA, Vía Libre and CELS to come up with an institutional framework, a budget and a clear methodological plan for an audit of the system before its reintroduction. The two sides, however, have been clashing on how to proceed with auditing the software and re-activating the system.

While one side suggested a “black box audit,” the civil society groups, which kickstarted the motion to suspend the system in 2019, have argued that this would be insufficient. A black box test would help test if the system works and is considered a standard in the market but the testing is not suitable for a critical piece of technology used by the state, Tomás Pomar, President of ODIA told Argentinian newspaper Clarín.

The Buenos Aires Ministry of Security has also suggested activating the system and auditing it in operation but the attempt has failed as the use of the facial recognition system is prohibited until the legal specifications of control mechanisms are met, according to Beatriz Busaniche, President of the Vía Libre Foundation, who participated in the hearing.

“The big problem is who does the audit and how,” says Busaniche.

Buenos Aires Big Brother: Wrongful arrests and government spying

Buenos Aires’ facial recognition system was implemented in 2019 with a task to identify fugitives. The technology was installed by Danaide S.A., with facial recognition technology reportedly supplied by NtechLab.

The system, however, soon revealed its shortcomings after it led to the erroneous arrest of an Argentinian citizen Guillermo Ibarrola. Ibarrola was forced to spend a week in prison after he was confused with a suspected criminal who had the same name.

The system was hit with even more scandals after it was discovered in 2022 that the system of 300 cameras had been used to collect data on journalists, politicians and human rights activists. That same year, non-government organizations won a suit against the system’s operation with the court ruling that the city government had failed to comply with legal requirements to protect residents’ rights.

According to Clarín’s report, rights experts warn that the system poses a threat to citizen rights and is prone to errors because it relies on a low-quality database. The SNRP system analyzes images from CONARC, a database of around 40,000 people wanted by the police which is run by the federal Ministry of Justice.

Other legal experts have warned that the use of the technology without an appropriate regulatory framework risks violating citizen’s rights. Data protection lawyers have been calling for a detailed study that would evaluate the risks, benefits and implications of its implementation.

Despite these issues, government authorities have been arguing that the system has been beneficial for cracking down on crime. At the time of its suspension, the SNRP system had managed to detect over 1,700 fugitives in Buenos Aires, including those accused of homicide, robbery and sexual crimes.

Article Topics

Argentina  |  biometrics  |  Buenos Aires  |  facial recognition  |  false arrest  |  police  |  video surveillance