Chinese Citizens Will Have to Scan Their Faces to Buy Internet Plans

By
Abhishek Choudhary
-

China is very particular about its online security which is evident from its history of online restrictions. In this line, the Chinese government brings a new resolution that its citizens now have to adopt face recognition technology to apply for internet services. Internet security is already fire-walled in China and now it is going to be more strong.

Being part of China’s social credit system, this law will be in effect on 1st Dec, this year. When the law will be in effect, Chinese citizens who want to have the internet installed at their houses or on their smartphones will be required to undergo a facial recognition process. The process will be undertaken by Chinese authorities to check and verify the identities of citizens.

This step is taken by the Chinese government because from December onwards, the government will rate its citizens on the basis of their online behavior. Further according to this law, now the Chinese citizens have to present the ID of the same person who is applying for the services.

On 27th September, the new law was officially notified to all the Chinese telecom service providers and was also published on the official website of the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

The good thing about the new system of face recognition is making easy payments. China is running another Chinese pilot program, according to which all the Chinese citizens have to pay for train and subway through facial biometrics. In fact, now the senior citizens of China will get a free ride in Shenzhen (A City of China) if the commuter is paying using facial recognition technology.

Revealing its future planning regarding online security, China is about to merge more than 170 million security cameras with artificial intelligence and facial recognition technology so as to keep mega-surveillance over the country. This will also be connected to China’s Social credit system in which the citizens are given rank on the basis of their behavior and are given rewards according to this ranking.

China has spent billions on its surveillance equipment in the year 2018, A report of U.S.-based market research firm IDC says. The statistics revealed that China has expended on buying $10.6 billion on video surveillance equipment. This figure may double up by 2023.

Currently, the majority of places in China are under surveillance like its classrooms, city areas, restrooms, etc. Students in the classroom are monitored through facial recognition technology and timely reports are given to teachers and parents. In fact, if anyone wants to use a public toilet in China, he has to scan his face to clean his butt. Ah! sounds funny.

According to the Global Times report, Chinese scientists have developed a 500 Megapixel camera, based on AI (Artificial Intelligence) to capture the panoramic view of the whole stadium at once with even the minute details of an individual.

Senior researchers of the University of Bradford officially documented the evolution of facial recognition technology. According to EurekAlert, “facial recognition technology works even when only half a face is visible,”

Activist Post has written on his post that, Hong Kong activists have started protesting China’s unreasonable use of facial recognition technology. This activist group uses shining laser pointers to damage the function of facial recognition cameras. Plus, Protesters are also spraying painting on camera lenses and government offices.

Well, maybe the step was taken by the Chinese government in favor of online security and to make China’s Social credit system better but there could be some major side-effects of this practice. Give your thoughts and review about this step taken by China in the comments section.

62 COMMENTS

  1. I do think this has some good and some ugly. Scammers and bots will be less common, making the web safer. But, the privacy of people can be invaded, and the detail the camera has is overboard. 70 megapixels seems like a good idea. The behaviour tracking is also overboard, as it invades people’s privacy, not allowing people believe that they are secure online.

  2. This seems absurd, China is wasting resources on making the cameras and they are wasting more by giving rewards for being good. This could be useful if there is a crime or something important that you can get evidence from but it seems like overkill to get 500 megapixel cameras.

  3. I think this is a bad and good idea. It is a bit overboard as they are getting too much oriented to the security of the Chinese citizens. It kinda seems like a scam because you are getting monitored for your actions anywhere you go. It is a good thing because it ensures the safety of the children in the classrooms but this is not necessary.

  4. This is unnecessary.I would understand that people are under the control of facial recognition.This is ridiciolous because hackers can also hack facial recognition.Why would put cameras in a restroom?

  5. This to me is unnecesary. I would understand needing facial recognition for accesing personal data such as bank accounts, but just to access the internet ridiculous. Why would the chinese government need to have cameras in the restroom! They’re taking drastic measures and they don’t even need too.

  7. I think this is strict and should not be allowed as everyone needs their personal space. This may freak people out and may make them feel uncomfortable to even go out in public anymore. In fact by doing this, more citizens will protest and cause even more problems in the streets of China. However, this is also a decent idea as the government can observe wrong doings of the society and take action in punishing them. But there are many problems about this so i’d diminish this rule. There are many concurrent issues in the world and people should be worrying about that and not this issue. q329 rvn2ua 8yaq398ryaw8ryw8nd

  8. I believe that the idea of using face recognition everywhere in the streets of China is an extremely bad idea as tourists cannot access the internet, people can wear masks of others and do bad things to lower their reputation and the cameras will be fooled.

  9. Wow, look at all that security. But why? I like my free internet and Chinese people like free internet, but they will have to be the ones to scan their faces. Also, what if a Chinese citizen gets their face disfigured? Then they can’t use the internet anymore😫 until the internet realises it’s the same person.

    #humanrights

  14. I think this is a little overkill and unnecessary but it is also important to be careful. They are very meticulous when it comes to the internet and they are trying to diminish all the issues on the internet concurrently. I especially think putting cameras in the restroom is extremely unnecessary.

  15. The new China Direct’s actions are absolutely unnecessary. It’s a lot of security, but I don’t like it. The new security system invades everyone’s privacy, even in the restrooms, which is really… you know what it is. The fact that you have to scan your face to do pretty much everything can also be a bit disadvantageous. What if someone gets their face mutilated or disfigured because they got ran over by a car or a cow or a duck? They don’t get internet for the rest of their life.

  16. This seems absurd! China is using billions of dollars to produce facial recognition technology and it is all being wasted. This technology is not acknowledging the citizens’ privacy and the whole system seems overkill. I mean, would you want to have to always scan ur face to go to the toilet?!?! I know I wouldn’t and you would not want to too. However, it may be able to reduce crime rates if the system works effectively.

  17. This is a really unnecessary step, as it is an overboard use of facial recognition. The idea that one must use facial recognition to use a public toilet disgusts me. China already has lots of security and surveillance, and this is something that will confront people. It is also extremely creepy that the government can monitor your every move, wherever you go. Overall, this is a really stupid idea, and it should not go forward.

  19. Regarding facial recognition, I find it unreasonable and inconvenient for people to scan their faces just to gain access to the internet. The process is clearly a waste of time. China already has high-quality security systems and facial recognition is inconvenient. Chinese citizens have their rights to remain personal. Having numerous high-quality cameras around the place can invade their personal space.

  22. This is an unnecessary use of technology. It will be inconvenient for Chinese citizens to scan there face to access the internet. This is a breach of personal space and Chinese citizens may feel unsafe and hesitant of using the internet since everything is monitored.

  29. I think that since China is already really safe, Facial recognition is unnecessary. It will also be extremely inconvenient to China’s citizens. Citizen’s will be creeped out and feel weird in their own house. The internet is already protected by a firewall, so facial recognition is not needed. I understand that China is worried about their citizen’s online safety, but in order to access the internet, facial recognition is completely unnecessary.

    Moneesh

  31. Imagine ur every movement being monitored by the government, from the second u wake up, to the moment u go back to bed, maybe even in bed!!! That is what the Chinese people will soon have to go thru

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