UK Edition 
Facial recognition fitted to 5,000 CCTV cameras in Moscow
Russia has fitted thousands of security cameras across Moscow with facial recognition technology that give police the ability to track criminals and terror suspects.
The Russian capital is using the technology, which automatically checks live footage against police and public databases for wanted persons, in 5,000 cameras, it has been revealed.
The system matches people’s faces against billions of photos, collected from Russia’s version of Facebook, VKontakte, as well as police and passport databases.
It has been in place for almost a year, but was only recently connected to the federal police database. In two months Russian police have used it in the arrests of six serious criminals.
"Around six people were caught immediately who were living in Moscow," said Artem Ermolaev, Moscow's chief information officer. "We didn’t know they were living here because they were hiding, but thanks to facial recognition we could find them in the centre of Moscow."
Responding to privacy concerns, Ermolaev said: "The service is only for use by the security services and those responsible for catching the bad guys.” He said CCTV cameras are clearly identified, but no additional signs have been added to reflect facial recognition is in place.
"There is no difference, you will be identified any way," he said.
In the long term, Moscow plans to use the technology to record evidence and investigate crimes, as well as to gather information during elections. Citizens will be able to request footage when they have been victims of a crime.
NTechLab is hoping to bring the system to countries across the world, with Turkey, Indonesia and China being possible next steps. Other cities in Russia have also expressed interest. Moscow said the facial recognition costs around $100 million (£85m) a year.
"We would be happy to suggest the technology for any town or public place," said Mikhail Ivanov, chief executive of NTechLab. "We basically think it should be implemented in government video surveillance. All governments have a watch list."
Ivanov also dismissed privacy fears. "They’re not looking for people who parked their car in the wrong place, they’re looking for serious criminals," he said. "Everyone knows the cameras are on the entrance to the public houses and on the subway and somebody is watching the crowd."
NTechLab said it has around 100 working licenses and more than 2,000 customers in countries including the US, UK, China and Singapore. The company gained recognition through the FindFace website, which let Russian people identify strangers by matching them with their VKontakte social network profile.
It isn’t the only firm working on such technology, but it one of the most advanced. The US Government’s National Institute of Standards and Technology recently identified NTechLab as having one of the most accurate facial recognition systems in the world.
Other countries have been trialling similar systems for law enforcement purposes. British police arrested a suspect identified using a similar system in Cardiff in June during a test of facial recognition software. The smart camera was in a police van that was clearly marked.
Germany has also tested facial recognition to track terrorists at a train station in Berlin.
Moscow’s city government has installed around 170,000 cameras in public places across the city, including building entrances and in the subway system. It claims crime has dropped since the installations started five years ago.