I didn't check if this research is still pursued or abandoned due to the rise of face recognition and other metric learning/re-identification technologies, but

I didn't check if this research is still pursued or abandoned due to the rise of face recognition and other metric learning/re-identification technologies, but a few years ago a number of faculty at ETH Zurich were quite heavily involved in researching CCTV-based person tracking, which would work even against people taking measures against face or gait recognition algorithms if they weren't able to leave the CCTV-covered area. It was insinuated that various external state agencies, not all Switzerland-based, were specifically funding this research. So, while the citizens might not want it, faculty seem perfectly happy to keep developing such technology for other clients.