Sao Paulo Metro ordered to stop using facial recognition

Brazil's São Paulo Metro was ordered to stop using facial recognition following a lawsuit by civil rights groups.

Via Quatro, the operator of São Paulo Metro’s Yellow Line, installed platform doors that displayed ads and information and used sensors with screens and facial and emotion recognition to monitor the reaction of viewers. 

The move resulted in human and privacy rights advocates voicing concerns about the inaccuracy of facial biometric systems, the potential for racial and ethnic bias, and of pseudoscience.

The lack of information provided about the system, and lack of user consent, prompted Brazilian consumer rights organisation Instituto Brasileiro de Defesa do Consumidor (Idec) to file (pdf - in Portuguese) a legal challenge against Via Quatro that argued that people’s fundamental rights and privacy had been violated.

Timeline ⏰

• May 2021. The Court of Justice of São Paulo ordered Via Quatro to terminate (pdf, in Portuguese) its 'abusive' use of facial recognition technology and data collection.

• March 2022. São Paulo court judge Cynthia Thome ordered the company responsible for running Sao Paulo's metro system Companhia do Metropolitano de São Paulo (METRO), to suspend its use of facial recognition as part of the broader implementation of the SecurOS electronic surveillance system.