6/9/22, 10:03 AM Myanmar: Facial Recognition System Threatens Rights | Human Rights Watch cameras, from the technology company Huawei, come installed with artificial intelligence technology that automatically scans faces and vehicle license plates in public places and alerts authorities to those on a wanted list. Myanmar’s Safe City plan envisions similar systems in Mandalay by mid-2021, and later, in Yangon, the commercial capital. “This powerful surveillance system bolsters the Myanmar junta’s increasingly abusive crackdown on demonstrations,” said Manny Maung, Asia researcher. “The authorities’ ability to identify people on the streets, potentially track their movements and relationships, and intrude into private lives poses a grave risk to anti-coup activists.” Most of the equipment used in Myanmar’s US$1.2 million project is produced by Huawei, according to a government official cited by Myanmar Now. The same report said that the Naypyidaw-based Linn IT Solutions won the tender to build the control center, and Nang Yoe was selected to install the cameras and communications cables. In a letter to Human Rights Watch dated February 22, Huawei said that as a telecoms supplier, it is providing “standard ICT infrastructure equipment” – referring to information and communications technology – suggesting that the company supplied the CCTV cameras. Huawei stated that the facial and license plate recognition technology installed on the cameras was not from Huawei: “[T]here are many vendors for different parts of the projects. The application software you paid attention to is not Huawei products. And more important, Huawei is not involved in any actual operation and data storage or processing.” However, Huawei did not clarify whether it sold the government CCTV cameras and associated equipment without these technologies, or had subcontracted the installation of these technologies to other suppliers. The Naypidaw and Mandalay Safe City projects have been planned since 2018 and 2019, respectively. In March 2019, the Mandalay Region’s chief minister announced plans for a $1.24 million Safe City project designed in partnership with Huawei, claiming it would heighten security and curb criminal activity. The proposal for the Safe City project in Mandalay, Myanmar’s second largest city, envisions that Huawei will provide CCTV recording equipment and software, oversee the installation by commissioning third-party contractors, and provide technical support to the Mandalay regional government. In both the Naypyidaw and Mandalay projects, there is little transparency regarding how facial images, vehicle license plate information, and other personal data will be collected, stored, and used. Nor is it clear which officials will be given access to that data and under what circumstances. The replacement of the civilian-elected government by a military junta heightens rights concerns, Human Rights Watch said. The use of facial recognition technology in public spaces does not merely risk the misidentification of people as criminal suspects, Human Rights Watch said. Even if the technology is accurate, it allows governments to monitor people’s habits and movements, creating potential chilling effects on freedoms of expression, association, and assembly. It can also be used to single out individuals in discriminatory or arbitrary ways, including for their ethnicity or religion. https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/03/12/myanmar-facial-recognition-system-threatens-rights 2/7