China Demands Facial Recognition from Mobile Chip Purchasers

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The adoption of facial recognition by China has just reached a new level: as of December 1st, Chinese consumers contracting a new mobile plan or service must allow their face to be digitized during the registration procedure with the operator.

The Chinese government has been using facial recognition for some time. Tens of millions of cameras across the country form a huge monitoring network whose images allow authorities to identify people in a matter of minutes.

Now, this system can become even more precise. Under the argument that the digitization of faces along with the operators’ records will “protect the rights and legitimate interests of citizens on the Internet,” the Chinese government officially announced the new procedure to operators in September.

In mobile service contracts (such as when consumers buy a SIM card), citizens were already required to provide a valid ID document. With facial recognition, the system can also check whether the contractor matches the supplied ID.

This procedure may significantly reduce the number of frauds, but, to a greater extent, it raises concerns over privacy. Because, like many other countries, the majority of Chinese access the Internet via mobile phone, a system like this should make China’s surveillance network even more comprehensive.

Note that this is a two-way network: in addition to allowing a face to be identified in the crowd from the many cameras spread across China, the system can also allow Internet activity to be monitored, all the more so as China has required online platforms to check the identity of its users since 2017.

Little attention has been paid to the issue in the media, but an increasing number of Chinese are using services such as Weibo to complain about what seems to be an overzealous surveillance state.

In 2017, it was estimated that China had 170 million cameras across the country. By 2020, this number is expected to rise to 400 million cameras.

The country has also been developing a social credit system that should also be fully operational by 2020. People who have a low rating in this system may have difficulty in traveling by air, for instance.

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