China New Law “Facial Scans” Requires For Mobile

A new law in China has been enforced for mobile subscribers. It requires to provide a scan of their face.

This new law has been implemented including current cell users wanting to update to a new plan. Chinese Consumers will still show their ID but now it is required of them to provide facial scans. It was announced in September says it’s taking the step to “protect the legitimate rights and interest of citizens in cyberspace.”

This new law is designed to reduce fraud. However, opposition believes it is also designed to ensure no-one is truly anonymous online.

It is a new way to match digital identities to individuals helping them to silence dissenters. It comes at the time when protestors in Hong Kong are facing the wrath of Beijing for expressing their view. Trying to infringe on autonomy, this new law has raised further concerns.

The other question is how the facial scans are being used after verification. Strict data laws in many Western countries require explicit consent as to how data is stored and used, but such laws are nonexistent in China.

The Facial scans my also be used to further national facial recognition algorithms to be used for oppressive purposes.

China is currently using robust facial recognition system in Xinjiang, A dominated Muslim region. Geofencing is used in addition with facial recognition to alert authorities if targets venter beyond a 300-meter safe zone.

China boast the world largest surveillance network with around 170 million security cameras and plans to install 400 million over the next three years. To support all that Beijing has turned to AI.

SenseTime is a Chinese firm that provides technology for the government’s surveillance network. The Viper system aims to process and analyses over 100,000 simultaneous real-time streaming from traffic cameras, ATMS and more. It is unclear at this time if the Viper system will access the facial scans but we should not discount that either.