MOSCOW. Nov 6 (Interfax) - The Moscow Savyolovsky District Court has declined a lawsuit filed by Muscovite Alyona Popova, who asked the court to prohibit the use of a facial recognition technology on the territory of Moscow.
"The lawsuit is declined," Judge Marina Ivanova said in her decision on Wednesday.
The administrative defendants in the lawsuit are the Moscow Directorate of the Russian Interior Ministry, the Moscow Information Technologies Department, and the Roskomnadzor Directorate for the Central Federal District.
According to the defendant's position, the city video surveillance system is intended not only for identification of citizens but also "for finding snow near apartment buildings, overfilled garbage cans [...] broken swings on children's playgrounds for further repairs."
"The department did not use the facial recognition system on Popova," Natalya Adriyanova, an official with the Moscow Information Technologies Department, said. It is a state program, which complies with the law on personal data, Adriyanova said. "These are just cameras. We don't know citizen Popova, we do not have her biometric and personal data. We don't carry out surveillance on citizens, that's not the purpose of the department, we don't have a database to delete her from," she said.
A lawyer for the plaintiff insisted that Popova's rights were violated daily as she lived in Moscow and went to public places. "We have come here to ask the defendant how it [the video identification system] is working and whether it is working legally," defense lawyer Frolova said.
Popova asked the court to invalidate the actions by the administrative defendants to use a facial recognition system on the territory of Moscow in the City Video Surveillance System. She also asked the defendants "to refrain from using a facial recognition system on the territory of Moscow" and delete her biometric data from the database of citizens' images used in the city video surveillance system. "No laws ensuring security in Moscow can violate the right to privacy," Popova said.
The plaintiff said she was horrified to think that her biometric data could be collected and used. "My rights have indeed been violated. I regularly see violations of my rights. Let the defendants prove that my data are not there. There is nothing funny in 'total surveillance'," Popova said.
A facial recognition system which helps the city authorities and law enforcement agencies ensure security was launched in Moscow in 2017.