The first lawsuit on face recognition in China has sparked controversy over “convenience of technology”.

While law professor Guo Bing sued a wildlife park in Hangzhou for allegedly abusing facial recognition, the Chinese online community is in fierce debate about privacy and data protection. personal material.

Facial recognition technology is gaining popularity in China, from airports to hotels, e-commerce sites and even public restrooms. But it is becoming increasingly outrageous when a wildlife park in China also requires a face scan.

Guo Bing, a law professor at Zhejiang University of Science and Technology, took the Hangzhou wildlife park management to court and sparked a privacy dispute and misuse of personal data in a society. digitizing.

Guo said the data collection, such as face scanning, if unsafe, could leak, creating opportunities for the bad guys to abuse illegally, endangering people and personal property of surname.

In recent years, the Chinese government has been spending money on companies developing facial recognition technology and artificial intelligence for commercial and security activities. The effort is aimed at making China one of the world leaders in new technology.

Some recent surveys show that Chinese people are ready to give up their own privacy in exchange for the convenience of technology. But it is really dangerous when people’s biometric data like fingerprints and faces are controlled by one party.

Chinese media reported that Guo’s lawsuit against Hangzhou wildlife park in October 2019 exposed fears that technology is going beyond the law.

The online posts related to the case on the Weibo platform have attracted more than 100 million views and many users have called for a ban on personal data collection. The reason for this is because of the widespread use of personal data in China, with potential risks such as financial fraud, information leakage and many other fraudulent activities.

In a recent article on Chinese social network, Lao Dongyan, a law professor at Tsinghua University called the abuse of facial recognition data a “deal with demons”. He said the price each person incurs is not only privacy but also his own safety.

On December 30, the Chinese government issued a directive regulating a series of rules regarding the collection and use of personal information via illegal mobile apps. However, China still lacks a specific set of laws to adjust personal data accordingly.

China without a clear law has hastened to implement face recognition technology

China is trying to build a smart state with the ability to monitor the movements of every citizen through the dense security camera system. According to the authorities, this security camera system helps them fight crime and ensure better order and security. But if the government is forced to come up with a new law to control the data it collects, it could affect the original goal.

Liu Deliang, a law professor at Peking Normal University, said the government could offer temporary solutions such as the proposal to hire employees to protect data and privacy in each company.

Meanwhile, Lokman Tsui, a communications professor at Hong Kong University, believes that the government can choose tougher solutions to target data abuse. Accordingly, the authorities will severely punish them if they detect someone illegally collecting and selling other people’s biometric data. This is both justified and still helps the government continue to implement a citizen monitoring program.

Although China is showing great advances in technology, experts say the billion-dollar nation is still lagging behind the United States in terms of progress in scaling up commercial technologies.

China has the largest number of mobile Internet users in the world, with more than 850 million. Face recognition is now used to pay bills, manage students, punish traffic offenders or to catch criminals faster. Even in many garbage disposal sites, there is also a facial recognition device to assess the level of compliance.

However, when a technology is widely applied and widespread it can lead to metamorphosis. In November 2018, the Chinese Consumer Association released a report that revealed that more than 90% of mobile apps are suspected of over-gathering personal information and 10% of biometric data for citizen.

That concern is further based when the media has repeatedly reported on thousands of user face data being sold on an online sale for $ 1.4 / face. In particular, concerns were raised when the Chinese government recently asked people to scan their faces to register for mobile services.

Refer to Abacusnews