News about fines from Face Pay in the metro: who created the fake and why people believed it

Yulia Suntsova

A number of Internet resources the day before, on January 10, disseminated information about a case with a citizen who allegedly received a fine of 3,000 rubles for violating the mask regime in the Moscow metro through Face Pay.

The Moscow metro hastened to deny information about using Face Pay to control the wearing of masks.

"The system, in principle, does not allow monitoring the observance of the mask regime. For this, at least, it is necessary to collect personal identifiers of passengers - last name, first name and patronymic. When registering in the Face Pay service, these data are not required. Thus, the metro cannot even match a person's photo. with his personal identifier. Without this, it is impossible to issue a fine, "the press service of the Moscow metro told Interfax.

The Moscow Metro also added that user data is stored in encrypted and impersonal form on secure servers in a closed loop, only the bank accumulates payment information, and the public transport service does not transfer the data of users of the payment service to third parties.

The GKU "Organizer of Transportation", which records violations of the mask regime in the capital's public transport, said that the institution does not have access to the FacePay database; the time of the offense, as well as the passenger's personal data.

Responsibility for the lack of personal protective equipment (masks) in the capital's public transport is enshrined in the Code of Administrative Offenses of Moscow.

"The news about a fine of 3000 rubles is a poorly prepared fake. For driving without a mask, the law provides for a fine of 4,000 rubles. By imposing a fine of 5,000 rubles instead of 4,000 rubles, they simply use part 4 of Art. 3.18.1 Administrative Code of Moscow (allegedly for committing the same offense, but “using a vehicle”) - all this, in my opinion, of course, is illegal. But a mythical citizen is generally fined for incomprehensible 3,000 rubles, a suitable part of the article for this amount simply does not exist", - says lawyer Ivan Yozhikov.

The primary source from which the fake originated was an article in the Parliamentary Gazette dated January 10, 2022 entitled “Two-faced digitalization. How can you suffer by trusting modern progressive technologies and what you need to do to avoid it".

Arguing about the costs of total "digitization", "digital power" and "immoral IT-specialists", the author dwells on the contactless - the so-called. "Biometric" payment for public transport fares. He calls fines for maskless travel a side effect of this high-tech innovation.

In support of what was said, the words of Igor Ashmanov, president of the analytical company "Kribrum", a member of the HRC are cited - he, in turn, cites the case of an acquaintance as an example.

“A very innovatively advanced man learned that it is possible to pay with a face in the subway, registered with Face Pay, passed the biometrics and began to ride. A couple of days later, he received a fine for traveling in the subway without a mask - 3,000 rubles. The rest also drive without a mask, but they cannot be identified by their faces. He can be, and he does not know how now to withdraw his face from this system and who else got it”, - the publication quotes the words of an expert, indignant at the selectivity of the fine system.

With the retelling of the retelling of a friend, Ashmanov was wise. It seems to specialize in the analysis of the dissemination of information, including fakes, in Internet marketing, and here he gave birth to it, commentators on the Web say. Or maybe this is some kind of interesting experiment? - others admit the mystery.

Why did several media outlets swallow the ridiculous fake with giblets? Could it be because many Russians have already experienced some of the horrors of the digital disruption themselves?

In recent years, many amendments to the legislation have been adopted, allowing citizens to be fined "without trial or investigation." So, the State Traffic Inspectorate can issue a fine for traffic violations based on only one photo and video material. There were cases when bailiffs wrote off amounts from the bank accounts of citizens, without even notifying the "culprit" about the initiation of enforcement proceedings.

During the mass protests of January-February last year, a number of public figures were detained while descending into the subway for far-fetched circumstances and, after holding them for some time, were released, citing an error in their orientation. Along the way, the detainees learned that the signal to the police stations on duty at metro stations was received by comparing their real photographs from social networks with the base from the subway CCTV cameras.

Access chambers from OATI (Association of Administrative and Technical Inspections of Moscow) in the pandemic also sent and are sending fines for violation of the self-isolation and quarantine regime without trial and investigation, while it is impossible to challenge them in court in 99.99% of cases.

The famous Moscow "Sotsmonitoring", which also sends fines directly to the Office of State Services without any proceedings, cannot be argued. The monster app requires coronavirus patients to take photographs several times a day, including at night. If he does not fulfill the requirement immediately, he issues a fine. "Social Monitoring" sends "letters of happiness" to the deaf and blind, who, by definition, cannot use them, even if they really want to, and even to those who are taken on a stretcher to the intensive care unit - for leaving the apartment! Defeating a rabid robot in the courts is also almost impossible.

It’s just painful to remember E-voting-2021 and E-census-2021 - the promised transparency has sunk into the mysterious jungle of the blockchain, which is always right.

For several years in a row, by decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin, digital passports of citizens were developed and were to be massively introduced from December 1 of last year. In addition to standard personal data, they promised to sew an iris pattern, fingerprints, personal QR code, etc. into a single plastic card.

In the same December 2021, the Supreme Court of Russia created a precedent that henceforth allows to fine for the absence of a mask from a photo, without the appointment of an investigation and examination.

The court considered the cassation appeal of a grocery store from the Moscow district of Lyublino. The check was carried out by the district government - the inspectors drew up a report on the seller for the lack of a mask when he was behind the counter. The owners of the outlet were fined 100 thousand rubles under Part 1 of Art. 20.6.1 (Failure to comply with the rules of conduct when the high alert regime is introduced).

Representatives of the store did not agree with the decision of the inspectors and appealed the fine up to the Supreme Court, pointing out that the first and second instances did not appoint additional examinations and did not question the attesting witnesses. The Supreme Court upheld the previous instances, noting that in the case of a seller who was at the workplace during working hours, "there is no need to use special knowledge in science and technology to establish guilt."

"The photographic material on which the shop assistant is recorded at his workplace in the trading floor without personal protective equipment for the respiratory organs (masks, respirators) is reasonably recognized by the courts as reliable and admissible evidence in the case that meets the requirements for this type of evidence by the named code", - specified in the resolution.

In this case, there is no need for an administrative investigation either (!), Since it "is carried out only in cases where an expert examination or other procedural actions that require significant time expenditures are carried out," the judge's decision also said.

In other words, the pains of Russian citizens from digital traps set up everywhere are not at all phantom. Although the digital tentacles of the state exist as if in a virtual dungeon hidden from the public eye, they reach the pockets of Russians quite clearly and tangibly ...

Intuitive fears in the direction of the metro, apparently, are also not accidental. First, high-aisle sites always "provoke" all sorts of near-budget innovations. Secondly, just the other day, the transport authorities have already announced them.

“This year we have created a record number of cool services, and the metro has confirmed its status as the most digital in the world. Moscow transport is one of the world leaders in the digitalization of its services and ticketing system. In 2021, on behalf of the Mayor of Moscow, we launched projects that have no analogues in terms of scale and convenience in any city in the world. For example, Face Pay and the virtual Troika, which have become an important part of the new ticketing system. This year we will launch Face Pay at the MCC, we are preparing a test launch at the MCD and ground transport, we plan to connect social cards to the service and make payments with a virtual Troika”, - Maxim Liksutov said on January 6.