Facial Recognition in Latin America

Facial recognition has advanced quickly and quietly in Latin American. Here you will learn about some of the continent’s initiatives, their objectives, the companies responsible for their implementation and the human rights violation risks associated with their use.

Mapped initiatives

Our research found several facial recognition systems developed and implemented by different public policies throughout the continent, in areas such as public security, migration control and transport.

Identified systems

The research shows a significant growth in the adoption of facial recognition systems in Latin America, under the auspices of different public policies. Most of these systems date from the last three years.

Implementation areas

By far the most common use of facial recognition systems is "public safety" and "surveillance of public spaces." It is followed by applications in the framework of transport, social assistance and migration.

Providers

Although it seems that the design and implementation of facial recognition systems is mostly local, it is important to point out the role that companies of powers such as China, the United States and France have and their relationship with local companies.

Hiring

In general, the most used form of contracting goes through bidding processes, the existence of technology donations is striking, as well as different practices around the subcontracting of specific aspects of the projects.

Download the report

Click here and download the report prepared by Al Sur, with all the detailed information regarding the operation and deployment of facial recognition technologies in Latin America.

Facial recognition

Facial recognition is a biometric identification technology that, through the analysis of certain features of the human face, seeks to establish a person's identity. The deployment of this technology without the necessary safeguards and appropriate regulations can result in serious violations of fundamental rights, especially for people belonging to historically marginalized groups.

Dangers of facial recognition

Facial recognition erodes the autonomy of individuals in favour of a system that seeks absolute control through the technical management of identities, reproducing historical inequalities and exclusions.

About the project

The research conducted by the Al sur Consortium brings an overview of the deployment of facial recognition technologies in Latin America, their uses and providers, characterized so far by excessive opacity and little public discussion.

This research was conducted by the Al sur consortium, with funding from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). The website was developed by Datasketch, under the supervision of Derechos Digitales.