Isobel Cockerell and I reported this week from the World Congress on Information and Technology where the City of Moscow dominated the exhibition floor at one of the tech industry’s largest global gatherings. A sponsor of the conference, its booth was the first thing you saw when you walked in. Interactive screens built into its sweeping lipstick-red structure showed off some of the smart city technology that earned the capital city a top spot in the UN’s international survey of best e-governance.

Kudos to Moscow for using algorithms to tackle its notorious traffic jams but it’s the implementation this year of facial recognition technology in 40% of the city’s 162,000 cameras that has privacy experts and protestors concerned. During a break in the conference, I called Alena Popova who leads the Ethics and Technology think tank in Moscow to talk to her about a lawsuit she filed against the municipal government after they used facial recognition to identify and fine her for a one-woman protest.

She was pretty unequivocal about what this technology in Moscow is leading to: “I’m certain we’re moving towards total surveillance,” Popova said. “In reality this is technology that is being used to hunt down political opponents.”

Needless to say the Moscow delegation wasn’t pleased when Isobel and I sent them the published story (you can read the piece here). Their spokesperson said that the piece was full of “cold war and political activism stereotypes” and that we could have written the article while “staying at home on the sofa in NY.”