Saving Face

By Ji Jing

Facial recognition is omnipresent in Chinas everyday life， used for purposes from mobile payments to compound entrance. With the broader application of the technology， related disputes， too， are on the rise.

A public survey on the application of facial recognition technology published in 2020 showed that of over 20，000 respondents， 94 percent had used the technology. However， more than 64 percent said they felt the technology tends to be abused， with 30 percent adding that they had suffered material losses or privacy infringement because of the improper collection and misuse of facial information.

A set of regulations for the use of facial recognition technology published by the Supreme Peoples Court （SPC） on July 28 aim to provide a legal solution to the increasingly pressing problem.

The rules deal with issues vis-à-vis the application of the law in civil cases involving facial recognition technology.

Hidden threats

Facial information can be collected when one is completely unaware. Maybe at one point or another， the ubiquitous surveillance cameras have collected ones facial information. Once such information is leaked， the consequences can be dire because unlike digital passwords， which can be changed， people can hardly change their faces.

These special characteristics of face-related information mean that any abuse of the technology might lead to both financial losses and privacy violations.

Some victims of this technology abuse have brought their cases to court. The first legal case involving facial recognition technology in China was filed in 2019， with a resident of Hangzhou， capital of Zhejiang Province， accusing a local wildlife park after the latter required a facial recognition scan for holders of its annual pass to get admitted into the park. At the second-instance trial of the case in April， the court ruled the park pay over 1，000 yuan（$154.3） in compensation for infringement upon the residents rights， and further ordered the park to delete the plaintiffs personal information.

Other cases have subsequently been reported. In 2020， a gym in Suqian of Jiangsu Province was ordered to correct its practices after it had received a police warning for capturing its members facial images without their permission. The gym deployed facial recognition systems to check people coming in and out of the facility， but it did not encrypt the biometric data to properly protect the information.