[liberationtech] For new phone services, Chinese citizens now required to scan their faces

[Yosem Companys]

Unfortunately paywalled. -- YC

*****

China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said its
facial-recognition efforts are aimed at minimizing telephone fraud and
preventing the reselling and illegal transfer of mobile phone cards. But
the requirement raises new privacy concerns, The Wall Street Journal’s Liza
Lin and Shan Li report <https://cio.cmail19.com/t/d-l-xhyhtkl-ykkiutddtj-o/>
.

*True.* China is home to some of the world’s most prominent facial
recognition startups, and citizens can make payments, board planes and
enter office buildings with a quick scan of the face.

*Also true*. The new regulation gives the Chinese state the ability to
better track people based on ethnicity and other factors, Ben Cavender,
Shanghai-based managing director at China Market Research Group, tells the
WSJ. The technology's use in China has been controversial, most notably in
Xinjiang, a region in the country’s northwest where authorities have used
the technology to surveil its Uighur Muslim minority.

*More companies in the U.K. try tracking faces*. The U.K. has more
surveillance cameras per capita than any other country in the West. The
Wall Street Journal's Parmy Olson reports
<https://cio.cmail19.com/t/d-l-xhyhtkl-ykkiutddtj-b/> that businesses are
taking advantage of Britain’s general comfort with surveillance to pair
their own cameras with live facial-recognition technology. Companies are
also now using watch lists compiled by vendors that can help recognize
flagged people who set foot on company property.
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