Surveys have indicated a broad public willingness to surrender some privacy in exchange for the safety and convenience that technology can bring.
Facial-recognition
technology has become embedded in China, from airports to hotels, e-commerce
sites and even public toilets, but a law professor had enough when asked to
scan his face at a safari park.
Guo
Bing took the wildlife park to court, raising the temperature in a growing
debate about privacy and abuse of personal data in an increasingly digitised
society.
China's
government has thrown its support behind companies that develop facial
recognition and artificial intelligence for commerce and security, part of a
drive to become a world leader in advanced technologies.
Surveys
have indicated a broad public willingness to surrender some privacy in exchange
for the safety and convenience that technology can bring.
But
that's changing as the collection of biometric data such as fingerprints and
facial scans mounts.
Domestic
media have called Guo's suit against the Hangzhou Safari Park in eastern China,
filed in October, the first of its kind in the country, and the public reaction
has exposed fears that technology is outpacing legal safeguards.
Online
posts regarding the case on the popular Weibo platform have garnered more than
100 million views, with many users calling for a ban on collecting such data.
The
sentiment stems in part from the rampant abuse of personal data in China,
ranging from outright financial fraud to the common leaking of mobile phone
numbers to phishing operations.
- Deal
with the devil -
In a
recent article posted online that generated wide discussion in China, Lao
Dongyan, a law professor at prestigious Tsinghua University in Beijing, called
abuse of facial recognition data "a deal with the devil".
"The
wanton promotion of facial-recognition technology will open Pandora's box. The
price we pay will be not only our privacy, but also the security we strive
for," Lao wrote.
Guo, a
professor at Zhejiang Sci-Tech University in Hangzhou, said in his civil
complaint that collection of data like facial scans, "if leaked, illegally
provided or abused, will easily endanger consumers' personal and property
safety".
A
hearing date is yet to be announced. Guo could not be reached for comment.
A
newspaper published by the Ministry of Science and Technology said the safari
park's "rash and rough attitude showed indifference" to public
sensitivities. Laws must be used to prevent "overreach", it added.
On
December 30, the government issued a directive specifying a range of practices
related to the collection and use of personal information via mobile phone apps
that it considered to be unlawful.
China
still lacks a specific set of laws governing personal data. Legislation is now
being formulated, but it remains unclear when it could be introduced.
China
is constructing a massive high-tech surveillance state marked by ubiquitous
security cameras, which authorities say is necessary to fight crime and ensure
public safety.
Devising
laws that may infringe on this drive is a delicate matter and unlikely to lead
to significant changes, say experts.
"There
could be symbolic moves like setting up a privacy or data protection officer in
companies, but nothing substantial," said Beijing Normal University law
professor Liu Deliang, founder of the Asia-Pacific Institute for Cyber-Law
Studies.
Lokman
Tsui, a communications professor at Chinese University of Hong Kong, says the
government could opt for tough laws that target the abuse of such data, rather
than its collection.
"It
would be relatively easy for the government to crack down on the processing or
selling of data on the one hand, while still being able to practise government
surveillance on the other hand," he told AFP.
- Brave
new world -
Despite
headlines about the brave new Chinese world of high tech, experts say China
actually continues to lag far behind the US in advancement but excels in
scaling up technologies for wide commercial use.
It has
the world's largest population of mobile internet users -- more than 850
million -- which operates as a valuable testing ground for consumer viability.
Facial
recognition is now used to pay bills, take attendance in some schools,
streamline security in public transit and punish jaywalkers.
Restrooms
at some tourist attractions even require a facial scan in order to receive
toilet paper to curb over-consumption.
But the
China Consumers Association in November 2018 released a report stating that
more than 90 percent of mobile apps were suspected of excessively collecting
personal information, and 10 percent excessively amassing biometric data.
Concerns
have grown after recent state media reports said thousands of pieces of facial
data were sold online for as little as 10 yuan ($1.40) each, and after the
government last month began implementing a new requirement that consumers
provide a facial scan to register for mobile phone services.