Introduction Back to contents 15 Third, CCTV technology and the various face, emotion, gait, and number plate recognition capabilities it can facilitate have enormous implications for human rights. The indiscriminate growth of CCTV networks facilitates mass surveillance, with major implications for the right to privacy which in turn creates chilling effects on the freedom of expression and association. Selective adoption of CCTVs also exists, thus endangering the right to equality and non-discrimination. Cameras are installed in ‘high crime’ or crowded areas, which globally have been shown to have a disproportionate focus on historically disadvantaged groups along the axes of class and socioeconomic status, among others.11 It is important to remember in the context of Myanmar’s current political climate that footage from traditional CCTV cameras can be used to conduct retrospective biometric identification and analysis, whereas newer CCTV cameras tend to come equipped with these capabilities. Methodology and theoretical basis Our initial research methodology to understand Myanmar’s smart city involved conducting a scoping exercise based on interviews and desk research to understand the nature of smart city projects, and then subsequently planning to approach the implementing members of the Mandalay smart city committee or Mandalay City Development Committee (MCDC) to gather any information they would be willing to share for analysis. We chose Mandalay as a vantage point to understand smart cities and AI in Myanmar as Mandalay has been garnering recognition for its efforts in implementing smart cities,12 while the MCDC also had higher civic engagement. We planned to combine the data they shared with the information from government tenders and announcements of the smart city projects. After that, before the research concluded, we hoped to conduct consultations with Myanmar civil society to include their concerns.