According to a report by Medianama, a popular tea outlet in India Chaayos is gathering users face data without giving customers the option to opt-out of it. The popular chain is doing this as an alternative to OTP. In the UI of the display where one has to register, there is no option to opt-out of facial recognition. There is only a “start” option. There are a lot of questions that are left unanswered. For example how long is the data stored? Where is it stored? How long is it stored for? What other uses can Chhayos use the facial data for? Medianama points out that “In case the police approaches a Chaayos outlet to investigate a case, will the company share this facial data with them?” There is also no assurance on the safety of this data being collected. Nikhil Pahwa, founder and editor of MediaNama said, “I was buying tea and didn’t even notice what was on the screen, and suddenly, the screen showed me. Remember, all this is happening without facial recognition norms, or a pr...