Iran has been using FindFace face recognition technology since 2019, developed by the Russian company NtechLab (a technological partner of Rostec). This was reported by the foreign publication Forbidden Stories with reference to certain documents.
According to the contract signed in August 2019, Rasad Intelligent Technologies received the right to use the Russian product. In the documents, it is referred to as «system integration partner». Later Rasad Intelligent Technologies was acquired by another company — Kama. At the same time, information about the deal with NtechLab was not disclosed.
Ali, an interlocutor of the publication, said that many in Iran are aware of video surveillance. According to him, the movements of citizens and their interaction with other people are tracked.
Using a photo of a person's face taken with FindFace, for example, in the Tehran metro, the authorities can find out about his environment.
Cybersecurity expert Nima Fatemi said that the system not only recognizes faces, but also creates a so-called «social map». It contains information about friends and connections, as well as other useful data, including license plates of cars.
This is a centralized tool for determining who is who and how people are connected to each other.
This technology can track the movement of thousands of people simultaneously, according to Forbidden Stories.
The author of the publication noted that the publication allegedly received several FindFace commercials for the Iranian market. One of the videos shows dozens of people at turnstiles at the Panzdah-e-Khordad metro station in Tehran. When the program identifies a person, a green circle appears around his face and available information about him is displayed.
The software also works offline. With its help, you can process videos from any devices and social networks, find faces captured on them, Fatemi summarized.
About NtechLab
The company positions itself as a leader in the development of AI solutions for «smart» cities. The flagship product — FindFace Multi. This is a multi-object video analytics and biometric identification platform.
It works on the basis of 50+ neural networks for processing video streams from cameras in real time, as well as archived data. The Russian company's development searches for a person in the database, determines gender, age, emotions, masks, and compiles a card index. In addition, FindFace Multi recognizes car models and license plates of 26 countries.