GLUKHIN v. RUSSIA JUDGMENT
v. Germany, no. 35623/05, §§ 51-53, ECHR 2010 (extracts), and Ben Faiza
v. France, no. 31446/12, §§ 53-55, 8 February 2018); the registration of a
person’s name in a police database which automatically collected and
processed information about that person’s movements, by train or air (see
Shimovolos v. Russia, no. 30194/09, § 66, 21 June 2011); and video
surveillance of university amphitheatres at a public university (see Antović
and Mirković v. Montenegro, no. 70838/13, §§ 40-45 and 55, 28 November
2017).
(ii) Application to the present case
68. In the present case, during routine monitoring of the Internet the police
discovered photographs and a video of the applicant holding a solo
demonstration published on a public Telegram channel. They made
screenshots of the Telegram channel, stored them and allegedly applied facial
recognition technology to them to identify the applicant. Having identified
the location on the video as one of the stations of the Moscow underground,
the police also collected video-recordings from CCTV surveillance cameras
installed at that station as well as at two other stations through which the
applicant had transited. They made screenshots of those video-recordings and
stored them. They also allegedly used the live facial recognition CCTV
cameras installed in the Moscow underground to locate and arrest the
applicant several days later with the aim of charging him with an
administrative offence. The screenshots of the Telegram channel and of the
video-recordings from the CCTV surveillance cameras were subsequently
used in evidence in the administrative-offence proceedings against the
applicant (see paragraphs 7-15 above).
69. The Government have not contested that the factual circumstances as
described above amounted to an “interference” with the applicant’s right to
respect for his private life under Article 8 of the Convention. In particular,
despite the Court’s specific question on the issue, they did not comment on
the applicant’s allegations that the facial recognition technology had been
used, first, to identify him from the photographs and the video published on
Telegram and, secondly, to locate and arrest him while he was travelling on
the Moscow underground. The Court is mindful of the difficulty the applicant
faced in proving his allegations. Indeed, the domestic legislation available to
the Court does not require the police to make a record of their use of facial
recognition technology or to give the person concerned access to any such
record, either automatically or upon request (see paragraph 40 above,
describing the practice of using facial recognition technology without making
any official record).
70. As regards the applicant’s identification from the photographs and the
video published on Telegram, the Court notes that although the photographs
and the video in question did not contain any information permitting the
identification of the applicant, he was identified within less than two days.
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