The government's Digi Yatra initiative for travelers, which uses a facial recognition system at checkpoints to automatically scan air passengers, has come under fire from activists who claim it would violate user privacy, particularly in the lack of a data protection law.

The project's beta version, which aims to cut down on airport wait times, has been introduced at the airports in Delhi and Bangalore.

Despite claims from the authorities that passenger data would be protected, privacy experts are divided on the subject, with some claiming that it would result in data misuse and unjustified spying.

It is said that the initiative is storing data for a variety of uses.

It is not constrained by anything as there are no data protection rules and it may incorporate unauthorized data from other sources. The main worry is purpose restriction and how they will utilize the data.

According to reports, the issues in this case have more to do with privacy, the absence of any data protection laws, and the lack of truly informed permission than they do with the concerns of law enforcement (particularly with regard to false positives).

Right now, there is no definite restriction on purpose limitation. However, it is somewhat concerning if the data can be kept and used for other purposes, such as sales and marketing or for government use, as a very broad range of usage has been permitted.

Aditya Ranjan, a research fellow at the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, raised concerns about the technology's authenticity and claimed that in the lack of an adequate data protection framework, it would be dangerous.

“The technology (facial recognition) is not really sound as of now and is still developing," Ranjan explained. "The other aspect of concern is regarding privacy. The data protection Bill has been withdrawn and the government says that they are bringing in comprehensive legislation, but the timeline is not clear. Legislation will help a lot so that these technologies can then be tested."

“I don't think there is too much to worry about on the privacy front,” says technology analyst and consultant Faisal Kawoosa. “There is already a lot of video surveillance that happens 24/7 and that typically gets stored for a minimum of six months. That data is already available and can be analyzed at any time with a lot of new tools that are around now. You can also analyze the video streams that have been recorded, so I don't feel it's a big issue and think that all the privacy challenges can be managed well."

The lack of a proper legislative framework is not something to be worried about, says Hitesh Jain, managing partner at Parinam Law Associates.

“Privacy has been recognized as a constitutional right," Jain says. "So, if there is any data breach, under the existing laws, you have the mechanism and the remedy to take action.”