Cities prohibit face recognition systems to prevent abuse of personal information
Zong Shukang
VCG

VCG

A short video of a man "wearing a helmet in order not to be collected personal information by the cameras at a sales office in Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province" circulated online recently, sparking extensive discussion on the topic of protecting personal information. 

As a reaction to the "helmet man", Nanjing anchorites require real estate sales offices not to record visitors' facial information without their consent and not to use the "face recognition" system.

Many other cities also promulgated similar regulations. On Tuesday, the "Tianjin Municipal Social Credit Regulations" were voted through and will come into effect on January 1, 2021 in the city, which stipulates that market credit information providers shall not collect biometric information such as faces, fingerprints, and voices from users.

Hangzhou City in October issued relevant draft regulations as well, requiring the city's property service personnel not to force owners to use shared facilities and equipment through biometric methods such as fingerprints and face recognition after receiving local citizen's complaints about the negative consequences of data information leakage with more communities beginning to install face recognition access control.

Prohibit abuses of facial recognition technology in Mobile Apps

Facial feature information is highly sensitive information. When the information is leaked, it may cause major losses to people's personal property.

VCG

VCG

In response to worries about smartphone apps' behavior, compulsorily collecting user personal information, especially facial recognition, the Cyberspace Administration of China on Tuesday clearly defined the scope of necessary personal information, which 38 common types of apps needs, such as map navigation, online ride-hailing and instant messaging. Among them, none of the relevant content includes biometric information such as face recognition and fingerprint recognition, which means that the users can refuse to provide such information when using these apps.

The "Information Security Technology--Personal Information Security Specification" implemented on October 1, the "Personal Information Protection Law (Draft)" that debuted in October, and the "Civil Code" that will be implemented on January 1, 2021, all specified in detail how to legally collect, use and process personal information and what punishment will be given to illegal behaviors.

There are already many laws and regulations on the protection of personal information in China, but why the illegal collection and reselling behaviors of personal information are still there?

Expert's opinions: why this happens and what should be done

Zheng Ning, director of the Law Department of the School of Cultural Industry Management of the Communication University of China, believes that this is because of the seller's profit-seeking psychology. The cost of buying face information is extremely low, while selling such information may obtain high profits.

VCG

VCG

Regarding how to eradicate the problem of privacy leakage and sales, he suggested that the national government, enterprises, and individuals should work together.

"The state should further improve the legal system of citizens biological information protection, accelerate the legislative process of the personal information protection law, and build a more sound system for the relief and protection of personal information rights."

In terms of law enforcement, they should increase penalties for companies illegally collecting and using citizens' personal information and increase the illegal cost of infringing on citizens' personal information, he said.

Individual citizens should establish a stronger awareness of personal information protection and do not scan codes or register casually in their daily life, Zheng said.

Zhu Wei, deputy director of the Communication Law Research Center of China University of Political Science and Law, said that for the reselling of private information of citizens, the "Civil Code" has a separate set of "privacy and personal information protection" in the edition of personality rights, and this shows China attaches great importance to protecting personal privacy, but the country must increase the punishment.

"In addition, new technologies should be introduced, such as blockchain technology, which can mutually verify the information traces, he added. It is best to use technical means to solve technical problems," he said.