Deployments of facial-recognition technology in China
Facial-recognition technology (FRT), which allows some hardware to match your face with some database, was developed in the West (Western Europe and America), but it is in China that this technology is really enjoying some massive deployments. The exploding use of FRT in China is obviously a result of the technology’s immense usefulness, coupled with […]
Facial-recognition technology (FRT), which allows some hardware to match your face with some database, was developed in the West (Western Europe and America), but it is in China that this technology is really enjoying some massive deployments. The exploding use of FRT in China is obviously a result of the technology’s immense usefulness, coupled with the relatively weak human right laws in China. That is, some of the uses to which FRT is being applied in China will cause serious human right issues in the West.
The technique of face recognition is conceptually quite simple. That is, at some point, a picture of your face would have been taken and specific geometric/topological features extracted and stored along with your personal data, bio data, or metadata -depending on a government’s (or an organization’s) respect for your data. By searching through such a database and making comparisons, any newly captured facial features can be evaluated to explore a match and present identification.
The list of uses of FRT, potential and active, is extensive. In the most benign usage, FRT is invaluable for verifying customer identities in business transactions such as banking. Installing FRT hardware in students’ dormitories can discourage criminals. Facial-recognition technology is also quite useful in tailoring marketing efforts based on some database. Security and surveillance represents a critical area where FRT is also very useful. Here, the identities of people are obtained before they are allowed entry into a building or are matched with some information in a database for the purpose of catching criminals. Also, a few universities are installing FRT to identify ghost exam takers trying to sit exams for other students. Obviously, FRT is a law enforcer’s best friend in any country.
The FRT is becoming a daily feature in the lives of many Chinese. Some of the more benign uses in that country include deployments on streets, in subway stations, and at airports. There are also more general uses of FRT there. I have learned that FRT has been used in China to identify joggers who attempt to take shortcuts at a running course. It is also reportedly being used to identify people who “jay work;” that is, people who cross a major street when the traffic signal light says they shouldn’t.
Jay working offenders are humiliated in some parts of China. In this case, face-reading cameras take videos of pedestrians crossing roads on a red light. The people’s personal data, such as names, addresses, phone numbers, and so on, are displayed on screens placed at the side of the road, to humiliate the “offenders.”
Chinese tech companies trying to deploy FRT to make money don’t appear to be too concerned about citizens’ privacy. Privacy advocacy groups in the West have certainly discouraged massive use of FRT on citizens. However, in China, the situation is different and folks seem to have been used to having their faces scanned for everyday transactions. The fact is that China does not appear to regulate the collection of people’s data the way the US and Western Europe do. It has been reported that until recently, China has had a long history of viewing the concept of privacy as negative. Furthermore, the Chinese government is credited with being the first in the world to implement radio-frequency identification card (RFID). With this card in your pocket or person, your entire identity is detected when you walk through an RFID gate. This kind of monitoring encourages Chinese businesses to collect people’s data without giving the action too much thought. In fact, Artificial Intelligence (AI), to which FRT belongs, has recently been promoted by the Chinese government as a state priority, with billions of US dollars flowing into the relevant research projects – FRT, speech recognition, robotics, deep learning, and additive manufacturing (or 3D Printing).
On the other hand, some western companies, such as Google, have expressed their averseness to creating a database of users’ photos. Moreover, some states in the US, such as Illinois, as well as virtually all of Western Europe, have very strict laws governing the collection of users’ biodata. The fact that personal data collection via FRT can be done without a user being aware of being scanned makes the idea of FRT to be somewhat ominous, if not insidious. This can obviously lead to significant abuse.
While the technique of face recognition is extremely useful, with a large space of applications, the potential for abuse by individuals, businesses, and governments is quite significant. Although the technology was developed in the West, China has leapfrogged in the deployment, with active integration of FRT with the vast network of surveillance cameras in the country. Incidentally, not all Chinese citizens are okay with the status quo. Debi Edward, a China correspondent for UK’s Independent TV (ITV) network, recently alludes to some concerns in China raised on an FRT deployment: “In Southern China, pedestrians were left angered and embarrassed after their personal details were flashed up on big screens at an intersection. They were being picked out, named, and shamed for jay walking!”